


It's a Promise

by Meme_Lorz



Category: Hololive
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Background Relationships, Concerts, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Idols, Light Angst, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Road Trips, Romance, Slice of Life, Small Towns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:15:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25613440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meme_Lorz/pseuds/Meme_Lorz
Summary: Matsuri's life was flipped upside down. She hoped she could spend the her high school years with her friends at Kyoto, just like that, it was taken away. She was pulled away from her comfort zone and would have to spend her next year's surrounded by completely new people.She makes some unexpected friends through the shared passion of music, but would this last forever?
Relationships: Kiryu Coco&Tsunomaki Watame, Kiryu Coco/Oozora Subaru, Natsuiro Matsuri&Himemori Luna, Natsuiro Matsuri/Shirakami Fubuki, Tsunomaki Watame/Shishiro Botan
Comments: 7
Kudos: 56





	1. A New World (First Draft)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I will be updating this both on here and Watpadd (@Meme_Lordz). I hope you guys enjoy this, and if there's any VTuber cameos or characters you'd like to see, lmk!

Five hours turned to six on the dashboard clock, about one more hour left. Natsuiro Matsuri stared blankly out the window as they drove across the bridge; the sun was setting and beginning to paint the sky orange and pink and Matsuri had the perfect view of it’s beauty. She was hoping she could enter high school with her long time friends and at least wait until college to move from Kyoto but her father's work had other plans. He was assigned to some job to supervise the construction of a company building in some small town called Kawanaka on the island of Shikoku.

She gave a small sniffle and rubbed her red puffy eyes. Will they miss me? Will they think about me as much as I will about them? These thoughts plagued Matsuri’s mind, making her stomach hurt even worse than it did before. Eventually the bridge connected to land and they were officially on Shikoku; a piece of Matsuri’s heart will forever be left in Tokyo, and the space it left behind will never be able to be filled. 

The rest of the trip was her mother pointing out spots of interest as they passed by them, but eventually the car went silent as the trees cleared and revealed the lights of a small town divided in two by a river. It was . . . beautiful. Her father stopped the car and got out to take pictures from the vantage point they were on; despite its beauty, all Matsuri could think of is what kind of people would live here and would it be as fun as Tokyo?

“Hey Natsuiro, you should get out and get a picture too!” her mother suggested. A small smile crept on her face and she opened the door; there was something about her mother that practically made it impossible for her to turn down an offer made by her.

She stepped out and narrowly dodged a rugged wooden pole; the dodge was narrow in fact that Matsuri was even impressed with herself as under normal circumstances, her head is like a magnet for stationary objects. She took a couple steps back to read the sign: Welcome to the ~~quiet~~ **boring** town of Kawanaka.

Graffiti on the town's welcome sign . . . already a great impression. Matsuri sighed and walked around the car and to her mother who had a wide smile on her face which rubbed off on Matsuri causing one to crawl on her face too. Her mother pulled her close, her arm around the daughters shoulders and gave a big smile for the camera, and Matsuri followed after, however; she was a bit too late and the camera captured her surprised face instead. Night fell upon the landscape and the stars began showing themselves; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the moon was full, and for a moment all of Matsuri’s worries washed away. She noticed her parents getting back into the car and she followed suit.

She watched the sign pull out of view as they traveled down the hill towards the quiet town. What did Matsuri know; maybe she needed this, whether she’d admit it or not, all she knew is that she would be alone for the first time in her life.

“Hey . . . you’ll like it here, Natsu,” her father said. He must’ve caught on to her unusual timid personality. “I read into this place before leaving, there seems to be a lot of stuff to do . . . I’ll let you find out for yourself though,” he said with a smile.

Matsuri sat up a little straighter and nodded, which her father could see as he was looking at her through the rear view mirror. He looked back to the road and slowed down, looking to his right for their new home. 

Most of the houses already had their lights out and were almost indistinguishable from one another. Her father pulled out a sheet of paper and stared intently at it, before raising his head once again. He slowly turned into the driveway and parked the car. “The moving truck should be here tomorrow, for right now, the sleeping bags and pillows are in the back,” her father said as he got out and opened the back so they could grab their respective sleeping materials.

Matsuri was taken aback by the house, it was certainly bigger than their previous one.  _ Maybe my room will be bigger! I’ll have to figure out how to fill the space if that’s the case. _ Her father gave her the keys to the house and ushered her along, saying he was going to get her mother's things and shut the car off.

She was more than eager to be the first to see the interior of their house. She approached the door and slid the key in the lock, and with a twist the lock clicked. Matsuri opened the door and was met with a relatively spacious square room with carpet covering the floor. Matsuri walked in and slipped her shoes off before entering the living room which was more scopic than her home in Kyoto. 

Even if school didn’t go well, even if she didn’t gain any friends, at least she could have a huge room, maybe she’ll become a hermit and coop herself up while yelling at people for having to carry them. The thought of that caused the sign to come back to mind; would she have an encounter with the culprit? Maybe they’re the school bully. Maybe everyone was like that here. 

Her hand found the light switch bolted into the wall. With a flick, the whole room was illuminated and she had nearly blinded herself. She decided she’d just place her pillow and sleeping bag in the middle of the floor and get some rest. She stared up at the ceiling, her mother and father walked in and shut the light off the light.

“Good night, Natsu,” the two said before walking up to the second story.

Whenever she tried to go to sleep, the lump in her throat became harder to swallow. She didn’t even notice it, but she had started crying. Rolling over, she buried her face in her pillow and cried until she couldn’t; suddenly, when she opened her eyes, it was morning.

The smell of egg immediately invaded her nose and she shot up. Matsuri stumbled into the kitchen and sat at the table.

“Morning, mom,” she said, rubbing her eyes and outstretching her arms.

“Good morning, honey.” She looked to her daughter for a quick moment before returning to the eggs. “Are you okay? Your eyes are a little swollen and red.”

_ No, I’m not, I’m scared, I am  _ “Perfectly fine, no need to worry about me mom.”

She seemed to stir them a bit slower, bowing her head a little lower before plating some eggs on the plate with some toast. There were thumps and rumbling as her father haphazardly stormed down the stairs, adjusting his tie. 

He grabbed the plate she just made and gave her a kiss, “See you later honey. Natsu, make sure you help as much as possible with moving stuff in!” he called. Just as quick and suddenly as he came down the stairs, he was out the door.

Matsuri’s mother gave a chuckle, “Always in a rush, isn’t he?” She plated another bit of eggs and placed them in front of Matsuri before finally getting some for herself.

She sat across from her daughter, a spitting image of her; it was almost as if looking in a mirror. 

“No rice?” asked Matsuri.

“Sorry, I thought I had brought some but I couldn’t for the life of me find it.” Her mother analyzed her daughter, she could catch on to every faint change in body language so given her intense gaze at Matsuri, she knew her mother caught on to something she was curious about. She was just waiting for the question.

“Natsu, are you sure you’re okay. You know that if you’ve got something on your mind, you can talk to me about it.”

“It’s just . . . what if no one wants to talk to me? What if I end up that friendless loner who gets picked on by even the other nerds?”

Her mother smiled, “You know, I used to be that kid. I was one of the most reclusive kids in school and I got ran through the dirt for it, but guess what; I found one person, one person who wanted me for who I was, and that person was—”

“Dad?” Matsuri interjected.

“Yeah. Don’t try to impress and satisfy everyone, be yourself and the right people will gravitate towards you.”

Matsuri nodded.  _ She always gives generic advice, but I’ll make her feel better and pretend that I’ll apply it. _

“Thanks mom, I’ll remember that.” 

She finished her plate just as the doorbell rang. Her mom got up and answered the door; as she listened, it became pretty obvious it was the moving service. Matsuri washed her plate and put it up before awaiting for her mother to call for her help. 

The men came in and out, carrying the boxes to different rooms and such while her mother cleaned up what was left of breakfast. They were done by mid afternoon and took their pay before driving off. Her mother called from the kitchen where she was unboxing and putting things away, “Natsu, I had them stick your stuff in the first room to the left up stairs! I want your room made and tidy by the time your dad gets home.” 

She trotted up the stairs to her room, began unboxing her stuff and setting it up, already not knowing what to do with some of the space she didn’t have to worry about filling in her old room. 

She stopped to look at her progress . . . it looked exactly like how she had it before. She expected to hear a honk to meet her ears at any moment, or the loud conversations people had often by her Kyoto home. Those sounds she yearned for, the ones her ears had grown accustomed to never met them. 

She always cursed them and wished for them to go away . . . now she missed them. She held back her tears and continued to set her room up; the stuffed animals, both small and large, given to her by her friends and some she bought herself going in the corner like before; her manga and light novels organized by color on the shelves that were bolted onto the wall, separate one from the rest, one she held close to her heart; and finally put her cloths in the closet.

She placed the manga (Adventures of Kuma! Vol. 1) next to her laptop which was resting on the ledge extending behind the window which gave viewing access to the street and neighborhood. 

By the time she had everything in its place, the golden glows of the sunset were peering through the window and illuminating her room with a warm orange glow. It’s beauty seemed to repel Matsuri’s tears from flowing freely. Tomorrow was going to be the most stressful day of her life; she would be going to a completely new school surrounded by completely new people.

She sat down and stared at the manga resting against the glass pane. 

_ “Don’t worry, Matsuri . . . everything will be alright. Life puts you through shit . . . from now on, stumble amongst the darkness until you find light. They will love you . . . Natsuiro”— _

__ She smiled, wiping her tears away and made her way downstairs after her mother called her for dinner.

Thankfully her father's first day at his new job went well, and of course her mother's cooking was out of this world. She finished her food and went back up to her room. She wasn’t ready for tomorrow, nor was she excited, but she was going to stride forward with confidence like  _ she _ would’ve wanted.

Matsuri sat up, rubbing her eyes and turning her alarm off. She got up and quickly got herself ready; her mother must’ve put her new school uniform on the end of her bed while she was asleep. She threw them on and did her hair, and once she was done with her other morning routines and breakfast, she was out the door.

There were already lots of students walking their way to school, many in friend groups already. Matsuri bowed her head and followed them. Much of her day until lunch would consist of a tour of the grounds, and the rest of the day would go according to schedule. 

The gates to the entrance of the school grounds towered over her, however it wasn’t that wide, so Matsuri cautiously squeezed her way through to the other side. She stumbled as she was suddenly free again from the claustrophobic crowd into a courtyard. It was massive, two towering trees flanked the paver pathway which extended to a large fountain which it encircled, and from there the path split three ways.

The girl didn’t know where the office could be found and didn’t want to be bothersome to any of the surrounding students, so she just went straight towards the school building, figuring it should be pretty close to the entrance.

She weaved her way through more crowds and managed to make her way into the building only to be immediately met with yet again three diverging paths. She spotted from the corner of her eyes a sign that read “Staff”, she dove into the right corridor, there were barely any students dotting the hall.

She skidded to a halt as she finally saw the sign she’d been looking for, the office! She approached the door and didn’t even think to knock before opening it. 

“Coco, Watame, you are cleaning that sign after school, period. Now start—” he was cut off by the door swinging open. The two girls and the teacher faced her.

“Who are you?” he asked simply.

“I’m the new student, Natsuiro Matsuri!” she said back so fast she almost interrupted him.

“Ah yes, I see.” He faced his desk and thought to himself. “Coco, Watame. Since you seem to be fond of skipping classes, I’ll give you a free pass this time if you show Matsuri around.”

The two girls nodded and gave a small, barely noticeable fist bump. As they walked past Matsuri they guided her out of the room and shut the door. They led the way down the hall a little and stopped to face Matsuri, both of them a lot taller than her which was intimidating.

“Oi, I’m sure having a tour of the grounds doesn’t really interest you that much, how about we just go our separate ways and you can figure all that shit out yourself.”

_ I could definitely picture these two to be the ones behind the sign. At least the orange haired one . . . _ to Matsuri, the blonde haired girl seemed to be a bit more quiet and more of a follower. She seemed to have an expensive jacket draped over her body, she couldn’t quite recognize the brand but it was extremely warm looking, perfectly fit for the autumn winds that would be cast over the town soon enough.

“I dunno, I might get lost. Maybe if I tagged along with you guys for a bit, I might be able to find my way back.” They were second year girls, so Matsuri doubted they would let a measly first year like her tag along with them—

“Sure, just try not to tell anyone, we already have to scrub the sign clean, wouldn’t want any more punishment, okay?” she asked.

Matsuri was taken aback by the sudden excitement of the girl and her willingness to just let a first year go along with them.

“Hell yeah!” Matsuri said. Coco put her index finger to her lips and whispered shhh.

“Sorry,” responded the brunette. A certain excitement rose in her stomach, her heart was beating a little faster. She knew she would regret it later but perhaps this would be an escape from the anxiety of being rejected by the other students, and maybe even Coco and Watame will like her enough to be her first friends amongst this unfamiliar environment.

“Come on then!” She ushered Matsuri and Watame to follow her, the first class of the day had started and the halls were completely desolate. They made their way up the stairwell to the top floor. There was a short hall, at the end of it was the door that led to the roof access, and there were five rooms, three to the right, and two to the left.

Coco walked down to the second door on the left and opened it, the blinds were down and there was a thin layer of dust coating the room. As the door disturbed the dust, it poofed up and drifted in the newly created draft; Coco and Watame buried their noses in their elbows as they entered, but by the time Matsuri entered it had settled yet again.

The room was relatively empty, however in the corner there was something covered with a tarp. 

“This is the one room I have yet to explore in this boring place, and it seems just as boring as the other ones,” Coco grumbled as she looked around in the storage for what she assumed was an old club room, and Watame of course followed.

Matsuri was more interested in what the tarp was covering. She walked over and took the tarp off revealing a large drum set along with three nylon bags, one towering a little higher than the other two. Instruments? Matsuri grabbed for one the bags and opened it revealing a blueberry sunburst Ibanez, perfectly spotless compared to the rest of the room and the exterior of its case.

“Hey, there’s a couple of amps over here!” Coco called from the other side of the room.

“There's some guitars and drums over here. This must’ve been an old band club room,” Matsuri replied. Coco huffed as she carried one of the amps over by the large chalkboard at the front of the room.

Matsuri went to help her with the last two. The girls pulled the two guitars and bass out of their cases, stepping back and looking at the line up. The Ibanez, a 50’s inspired Fender bass, and a Flying V Gibson. 

Coco smiled, “Whad’ya say we rock out?”

Matsuri used to play the guitar so she of course wouldn’t pass up the opportunity, however she only had experience in acoustic. She shrugged, how different could they be?

“I’ll take the Ibanez,” Matsuri said as she picked it up and gave it a quick strum, of course it was out of tune. Coco grabbed the Flying V and Watame took up the bass.

“So do you guys have any experience with music?” Matsuri asked as she tuned the guitar up, not really needing a tuner thanks to her perfect pitch.

“Not at all!” Coco exclaimed.

“I have tried a couple instruments, never took time to learn them though,” Watame responded, “Bass was one of those.”

Matsuri nodded and strummed a G chord for double assurance that it was in tune. She plugged it into the amp and stood there, it had been so long since she even held a guitar that she had completely forgotten how to play and didn’t know where to start.

She started out with a couple basic scales that came to her mind and could already feel a difference from how she remembered the acoustic. The stares of the two girls didn’t help. 

Suddenly a song came to her mind, one that she had memorized before. She played it for the two; she was sure it sounded better on acoustic but they clapped once she was done. 

“You have an impressive singing voice!” Coco said, almost surprised. Matsuri was always told her casual voice was a lot lower than her singing even though she thought they both sounded like kitchen scratch. 

Coco, Watame, and Matsuri spent until lunch fiddling and playing familiar riffs on the instruments, talking, and having some laughs. 

The rest of the day she went to her classes like she was supposed to, though her thoughts weren’t in the lessons; instead, they drifted to the feeling she felt after playing the guitar again after so many years. 

The bell rang and class was dismissed, the students headed off to their clubs, which reminded Matsuri of the dreaded truth that she had to find a club to join within two weeks. She stood in front of the large board with the club brochures pinned to it, and none of them stood out to her as something she’d be interested in.

She bowed her head and began her walk home. Coco and Watame seemed like they’d be fun to be friends with . . . she just came up with an idea to occupy her vacant evening. She took out her phone and called her mother, almost immediately it was picked up.

“Yes honey?” she asked, “How was your first day at school?”

“It was good. If I come back before sunset, can I do some exploring?”

“Yeah of course! Have fun!” 

“Thanks!” Matsuri hung up and began jogging up the road the welcome sign was.

“Oi!” she called as she saw the girls, waving frantically at them. Coco was in the middle of vigorously scrubbing the sign while Watame would occasionally add more bleach to the mixture. 

As they heard her, the two peeked around the side of the sign to see, “Matsuri? What are you doing up here?” Coco asked.

Matsuri stopped at the crest of the hill and caught her breath, “I wanted to help you guys out,” she huffed.

“But you just met us? You don’t have to spend your evening helping us fix this.”

“I want to . . . I want to get to know the both of you!” she said, a smile spread across her face.

Her smile seemed to be contagious, because Coco began to grin as well and looked away, “I told you Watame, first years are like parasites . . . come on, kid,” she said.

Matsuri closed the distance and proceeded to help them in every way she could, these two girls; the posh-looking blond and the seemingly rebellious girl, were her first friends in this new chapter of her life. It was nearly sunset, her mother called and told her it was almost dinner.

“Hey Coco, Watame, I have to go!” she said as she began jogging down the hill.

“See you tomorrow,” Coco called, giving a faint wave before continuing to scrub the sign clean.

Matsuri rushed in and hastily sat at the table just as her mother was plating the food. 

Her mother and father gave a small smile, “Looks like you had fun today,” her father said.

Matsuri nodded quickly, thanking her mother for cooking the food before chowing down. “It’s nice to see you have some energy back!” Her mother chuckled.

Matsuri finished and rushed up to her room, spending the rest of her night watching guitar videos until she drifted off into a blissful sleep. Matsuri was thrilled to have at least two friends and her confidence in a bright future was renewed. She wondered what the future held in store for her, and what club she was going to join.


	2. Fu~ Bu~ Ki (First Draft)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matsuri decides to make her own club since she didn't have an interest in any of the others. She convinces one of her friends to join making four in total, enough to officially be considered a club.
> 
> A strange girl with white hair decides to join as well as a pianist. There's just one problem, they don't have a keyboard.

Within a week, Matsuri had learned her way around to her classes and was beginning to get comfortable. She managed to dig up her old acoustic and had been brushing up on her skills, picking up on it quickly as she began to remember more about it. She had been hanging out with Coco and Watame everyday after school, gradually teaching them about their respective instruments, as well as some goofing off.

The deadline for Matsuri to pick a club was approaching, and Matsuri was stressing more about it as each day passed. All of the somewhat interesting clubs were full; she stood in front of the board, Coco and Watame flanking her as they had agreed earlier to help her pick. 

“Ugh, there's just nothing interesting!” she shouted to herself, she felt like she was going to go crazy.

“How the cooking club,” Coco suggested, though it was obvious she was kidding.

She looked to Coco, “Ha, I’m not planning on getting any criminal charges. Every time I’ve tried cooking it always ends up in the trash can.”

Coco giggled and sighed.

“How about you, Watame?” she asked the blonde, hoping she’d get a serious answer from the more restrained girl.

Watame rubbed her chin, “Hm . . . you seem pretty into music, why don’t you join one of—”

“All taken,” she interjected.

“Then how about you make one?” she suggested.

Matsuri looked at her, wondering if she was being serious. It wasn’t a bad idea, but who would join before the deadline? Most of the students were already in their respective clubs, and she had to have at least four members to be considered a proper club.

“Where will I find the amount of members I need?”

Coco and Watame looked at each other before answering, “If you can find a fourth member, we’ll join! Seems fun and I’m always down to help out a friend,” Coco responded.

“Of course, I would too,” the blonde said.

Matsuri felt excitement growing inside her, “Really?! You guys are the best! I’ll have a fourth member by the end of the day, I swear it!” She was by far the loudest person in the hall and drew some eyes but she didn’t mind. 

The bell signalling first class rang out and Matsuri was practically running in place, “I will see you guys at lunch break!” She skipped down the hall to her first class, math. 

She made her typical flamboyant entrance, “Subaru!” she shouted as she approached her desk mate. 

She gave a small smile and rolled her eyes. “Don’t say my name like that!” she scolded as she always did when she would loudly yell her name. “Seriously, it’s embarrassing.” 

She leaned back in her chair, kicking her feet up and roughing up her short black hair. 

“Have you picked a club yet?” Matsuri cooed. She had started having casual conversations with the tomboyish girl since her first class; in fact, their first conversation was a small argument about Matsuri being too annoying and girly.

“No,” she replied simply.

“Really? There’s tons of clubs I would have expected you to at least be interesting.” Matsuri thought for a moment, then it hit her, maybe she could ask Subaru to be the fourth member! She seemed like the type to be into playing music!

She gave a long sigh and looked over to Matsuri, “Well, all the clubs my friends are in are either full or too uptight and formal.”

Matsuri smiled, “How would you feel about joining a music club, mine specifically!” 

Subaru’s eyes seemed to faintly sparkle, “What would I be playing?”

“Well the only open spot is for drums.” 

“That’s perfect, I play drums all the time!” Matsuri had never seen or heard such excitement in her eyes or voice.

“Top story, first room on the left after school!” Matsuri practically hugged the girl, wanting to squeal in excitement.

The teacher walked in and the class fell silent, Subaru sat properly and Matsuri quickly found her seat. Her excitement distracted her from the lesson. The rest of her morning classes seemed to drag on longer than they actually were; the students took out their lunches, Matsuri actually remembered hers today which was not an everyday occurance. Suddenly, two students snagged two free desks surrounding Matsuri’s; Coco and Watame.

“So, did you find a fourth member?” Coco asked immediately.

Before Matsuri could answer, Subaru leaned back to talk, “So, you two are the other members. I’d be surprised if they show up to a lot of the jam sessions.” She looked to Coco as she said this, almost as if singling her out.

“You can barely keep your uniform on correctly, pretty boy,” she said in response. Subaru gave a cold glare, and Coco just sat up straighter as if brushing off Subaru’s offence.

“Pretty boy? Excuse me, I may not have a big chest but at least I’ll be able to see the instrument I’m playing when I look down.”

Coco and Subaru stood up and walked right up to each other, Coco towering over the tomboy as she was one of the tallest girls in school. Matsuri stood up as well, “Woah, woah, calm down.” 

Watame sighed and shook her head, “Don’t worry about it, nothings going to happen,” she said softly. 

Coco smiled and put the girl in front of her into a headlock. She ruffled up the girls hair as Subaru whined, it was almost as if they were siblings.

“Oi! I told you I’m too old for this!” she yelled. Coco giggled and let her loose.

“It’s been forever!” Coco exclaimed. Matsuri let out a sigh of relief.

Coco smiled, “I used to be really close friends with her! As we grew older we fell out but it’ll be fun to get back together again.”

“Oh yeah, just dump a whole history lesson for them while you’re at it,” she murmured.

“Awesome! We have all the members we need to be an official club!” Matsuri raised her fist in victory. 

Out of the corner of her eye she caught something rather odd to her, a girl with white hair was peeking around the corner of the entryway, seemingly staring right at them. When Matsuri squinted her eyes to get a better look the girl suddenly pulled her head out of view.  _ She seemed kinda weird. _ she thought.

“Hey, hey Matsuri, are you even listening?” Coco asked, placing her back in the present. 

“H-Huh, what did you say?” Coco sighed and articulated her sentence the way a person would when talking with a child who can’t understand much.

“Are. We. Having. Our. First. Jam. Session. After. School?”

“A-Ah, yeah!” Matsuri nodded frantically, occasionally darting her eyes to the door in case that curious girl came back.

“Fuck yeah!” Coco shouted, playing air guitar like the goof she was. Subaru made her stop with a weak slap.

“Don’t say that sort of shit out loud,” Subaru scolded.

“Oh fine, only for you, prince,” she hummed, giggling as the tomboy went red and looked away, cursing under her breath. 

Lunch break was almost over and soon they would all have to go to their separate classes, at least Matsuri and Subaru were; she had no clue whether Coco and Watame ever really went to class, but they managed to get to their second year so they must be doing something to keep their academics up.

The rest of the day passed, Subaru seemed a lot brighter than she was the entire week, it was quite nice actually.

_ DING, DING, DING _ , the bell echoed through the halls and the students began their after school activities. Matsuri walked with Subaru up to the band room, both were extremely excited; Matsuri had snagged a club form from the office earlier that morning.

The first year threw the door open, holding the form up high. “Everyone, after today, we’re going to be an official club!”

Coco and Watame stood and cheered. “Then we get to —” Coco strummed a chord Matsuri had taught her, “Jam!”

The girl smiled, seeing the ambition and excitement in their eyes warmed her heart. She gathered them around the couple of tables they had retrieved from the room's storage and pushed together; each of them signed their names on the form, and as Subaru put the pen down, their journey as a band had officially started. A feeling of being watched washed over Matsuri, her eyes swept the environment and caught glimpse of those green curious eyes once again, they remembered them from before with perfect detail because they were carbon copies of her own.

She stepped into full view now, probably thinking that there was no point in hiding if Matsuri had clearly seen her. Her face was slightly pink and she walked in, her head bowed almost just like Matsuri’s was on her first day. “I-I overheard you guys talking about a music club, and I was interested in learning more about it,” she murmured.

Her personality was so different than everyone else's already, Matsuri found it adorable. “Well, we don’t currently have any more available instruments,” Matsuri said, though she wished that wasn’t the case. 

She nodded slightly, “Sorry for the disturba—”

“We’ll get you one! What do you play?” she cooed as she wrapped her arm around her, hoping it wouldn’t be too abrasive. She let out a sharp squeak of surprise before backing away.

“I-I don’t want to be such an inconvenience, I’ll find another club,” she said softly as she turned on her heel to leave.

“Wait! How about keyboard?” she suggested before she left, “We don’t have a pianist yet . . . If everyone else isn’t, I’m willing to get you one!” She held out the form.

She didn’t know why, but her curiosity of this girl was too much to just let her walk out without a valiant effort. She stopped, Matsuri could swear she could see the heat waves and steam emitting from the white haired girl's head. She turned around and hastily wrote down her hair before heading back towards the exit.

“I have somewhere to be soon, but I’ll be here tomorrow,” she said quickly before rushing away. Matsuri found herself laughing internally, clearly she was lying, but her attitude about it all was melting Matsuri from the inside already.

Coco face palmed, “You do realize, that I’m not helping you out with the whole keyboard thing; you did that to yourself and we already have all the required members.”

Matsuri nodded, “And that’s okay . . . I’m willing to do it myself, like I said.” She looked at the sheet; her name was hard to make out, but it read Shirakami Fubuki.

Matsuri smiled slightly as she read the name, there was something nice about it. She began to actually think about what she had just promised, and realized she had no clue how she was going to follow through with the promise.

“Oh shit, Coco how can I get money around here?!” she whined. 

“Why do you always resort to me?” she asked, “Especially since I told you I wasn’t going to help.” 

“Subaru!” She immediately spun to the tomboy and wrapped her arms around her from behind, “Help me!”

“Go get a job giving out newspapers or something,” she retorted, trying to writhe her way out of Matsuri’s confines in the process.

“But I’ll get lost, won’t I?”

“If you managed to get lost in this town, you have to be the dumbest person in town; if you don’t know where you are, just ride back to the school and go back to the route you were originally on,” she explained, “Also, they have route GPSs on the bikes now.”

“Really? That sounds easy!” 

“Oi, Matsuri . . . are we gonna get to it?” Coco asked.

Matsuri broke away from Subaru and picked up her guitar, “Sorry! Let’s get to it!” 

Once again, she spent most of the time teaching Coco even more about the guitar and they managed to play a simple set of chords with the Subaru and Watame backing them, and it actually sounded good. The five girls had the widest smiles on their faces the entire time, and they kept playing until the cold air of the coming autumn became unbearable and the orange rays painted the classroom. 

By the time the last note of the session finished ringing out through the amps they were sweating from the intensity of their playing. They began packing up their instruments and departing for the day, the general mood between them was extremely high. Matsuri dropped the form off and began her walk home, her phone had a pop-up saying she had 3 missed calls.

“Oh shit!” she hissed. She quickly called her mother and she picked up.

“Natsuiro! Why didn’t you answer!” she yelled, so loud in fact that Matsuri had to hold the phone away from her ear.

“I’m sorry, mom. I meant to tell you I was going to be late but didn’t get the chance!” 

A sigh was clearly heard through the speaker; “Alright, be home as quick as you can,” she said just before hanging up, not even giving Matsuri time to say okay. 

She put her phone away and shivered as a cold draft rushed throughout the street. Her mind wandered to Fubuki . . . when she thought of her, she got a sense of deja vu; muffled words rang out in the back of her head, words Matsuri must’ve heard before but couldn’t remember who they were from. 

She had a busy time ahead of her; she would have to apply for a job, still attend club and mentor Coco, and be home at a decent hour. She let out a sigh and walked into the house, feeling completely exhausted. “Mom, dad, I’m home!” she announced.

“Natsuiro, did you have fun?” her mother asked.

Matsuri gave a smile, “I did. Again, I’m sorry for being late and not telling you.” 

“You just had me worried, that’s all.”

“Hey mom, can I talk to you about something?” 

“O-Of course,” she seemed a little surprised at the suddenness of it, but quickly walked with her to the table. Matsuri sat across from her mother, her plate was ready for her already.

“Well firstly, I founded an official club,” she said.

“That’s great, but what else did you want to tell me?” 

“Well, I want to get a job . . . there is a member who joined and she doesn’t have an instrument, so I want to give her one. I wanted permission from you to get one.”

She leaned back in her chair and thought to herself, staying silent for some minutes until finally her mouth opened to speak; “Natsu, are you sure you’re willing to commit so much time to both the job and the club?”

“I am!” she said, determination burning in both her eyes and heart. She knew this was something she wanted to do, it brought joy to her and she was good at it.

Her mother could feel the aura radiating off her, and she smiled, “Of course, do you have any plans for what you’re gonna do?”

“I’m gonna familiarize myself with the layout of the town and see downtown for the first time by being a mail girl!” she exclaimed. Her mother smiled and nodded.

“Eat up, I’m going to check up on your father, he had a hard day and came home extremely exhausted.”

Matsuri nodded, “Thank you for the food!” Her mother vanished behind the frame and Matsuri scoffed down her food hastily. 

She finished and washed the dish before putting it up. She walked up the stairs and entered her room, sitting herself on the end of her bed and looking at her phone. Every day she would look at her old friends' status’, she would feel a bitter sting in her heart and part of her still wished she could go back to that old life despite growing more comfortable in her current position as the days went on.

She laid on her back, holding her phone to her chest and staring at the ceiling. 

_ Matsuri held up the pamphlet up for her friends to see, “They’re opening a new amusement park this summer!” Matsuri looked down slightly, “This might be the last summer we get to spend together, so let's make the most of it and go!”  _

_ They all seemed pretty thrilled about the idea besides Hoshikawa Sara, a blonde haired girl who Matsuri secretly had a crush on, but would never admit it to her of course, especially since she never returned any signs of the same interest; but just being around her was enough to satisfy her. Sara was adamant, but gave in and went along with the idea anyways. They planned everything out, and finally the day was here. _

_ “It’s so big!” one of her friends announced, completely taken aback by the actual size it was up close.  _

_ They got their daily passes and entered, it was extremely busy and the lines were crazy busy, but that wasn’t going to stop them from their fun. The rides towered over them and they all looked fast and vomit-inducing, the food people were carrying around looked mouthwatering. Matsuri was going to confess to Sara today just in case she would never get the chance to again. _

_ “Sara, how about we get the front seats on that,” Matsuri cooed as she pointed towards the biggest, scariest-looking ride. She knew Sara never liked fast rides or anything resembling them, she could barely handle trains or fast cars. _

_ She shook her head frantically, “No, no any ride but that one.” _

_ “Come on, I’ll make sure to buy you your favorite food afterwards; or you can skip out and give me a kiss!” _

_ She immediately stood straighter, her face growing a little red; “Are you sure you don’t want to go on something a little less . . . big.” _

_ Matsuri took this as a yes and cheered to herself as she led Sara to the ride, her arm around the blonde's shoulders and her other friends talking amongst themselves behind them. Sara’s face was already ghostly, but Matsuri was determined to ride this with her.  _

_ She would’ve taken the kiss as well, but didn’t mind either way. She knew Sara would choose the coaster over kissing Matsuri, but when the girl thought of it that way, it stung her heart a little so she diverted her thoughts to the anticipation the ride ahead brought her. _

_ They waited through the line, and eventually they entered the ride. Long story short, Sara was yelling at Matsuri between heaves by the end of it, and Matsuri couldn’t help but laugh as she had never seen the girl act this way before.  _

_ Matsuri forked out a hefty price paying for what Sara wanted, but she didn’t care too much. The day went on, Sara began asking to go on the rides with the others and actually started enjoying them.  _

_ The park was closing, Matsuri tried again and again to confess but couldn’t find the chance, that was until her friends suggested they ride the Ferris Wheel before they left. This was perfect; Matsuri could get in the same cart, alone, with Sara, and finally confess. That thought alone made her closer to throwing up than any of the previous rides. _

_ They boarded the cart, and just as Matsuri hoped, it was just the two of them. The cart began to rise as the wheel spun, more of the city gradually coming into view, it was the most stunning thing Matsuri had ever seen, besides Sara of course. _

_ Matsuri let out a sigh, “Crazy . . . this might be the last summer we get to spend together,” she said. The air in the cart began heavy, Sara looked from the window to the floor. _

_ “Yeah . . . it makes me think about how much more we could’ve done. All the time we take each other for granted, all the times we could’ve been at the beach or downtown shopping rather than sitting on our phones or playing games.” _

_ “Sara.” Matsuri looked at Sara, and in response to what Matsuri said she lifted her head and their eyes met; “Let’s not take this summer for granted . . . let's be truthful with each other. There’s been something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time . . .” _

_ Sara looked quizzically at the girl across from her, however the direction the conversation was going should’ve been obvious, “I like being around you . . . more than the others. Everytime I’m with you I feel warm, my heart skips a beat when you say my name, and even right now I’m having trouble talking correctly without stumbling over my words. I’m rambling on too much, Sara, what I’m trying to say is that—” _

_ “I love you,” she finished. _

Matsuri was tearing up, burying her face in her pillow before softly falling into the blissfulness of slumber.


	3. Unbelievable (First Draft)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matsuri goes through her first day at her temporary job, meeting a new face along the way; and she sees some other surprising ones.

Matsuri slowly sat up, it was the first day of the weekend, and it would be a busy one; she had gotten accepted at the position and would be starting at eight ‘o clock, and it was six now. She got her uniform on and began working on some school work she was given to complete over the weekend. 

Her pencil swished away as she completed her work, occasionally glancing at her phone. She knew she should’ve just let go but the harder she tried, the temptation got more intense, and it would just make her heart hurt worse. 

Then there was one post, one that made her feel more guilty than she ever had before and forced her to put her phone down. She hastily tried to put her mind off it by getting back to her assignment, but soon enough she was sobbing. She covered her mouth and tried to stay as quiet as possible, she was definitely an ugly crier, as well as a loud one.

_ I miss her . . . I miss her so much.  _

She placed “The Adventures of Kuma” face down as she couldn’t bear to even look at it. She pressed her forehead against the desk and tried to take her mind off the thoughts of Sara; her beautiful eyes, blonde hair, cute accent . . . her gentle touch. She could still feel the coldness of when she encased her hands in the girls, the words  _ I love you  _ rang out in her head over and over.

She didn’t know how long she spent crying her eyes out, but her mother calling her from down stairs caused her to stop; “Matsuri! It’s almost time for you to leave for work!”

She stood, wandering to the bathroom to try her best to hide the fact that she had been crying for the past hour with make-up. She looked at herself in the mirror and gave a fake smile.

She strutted down stairs and grabbed what she needed before leaving, “I’ll see you later!” she called before shutting the door behind her and walking down the street towards the postal service. She walked in and punched in, then entered the main lobby only to be met with a brown haired girl who was frantically organizing mail, dropping tons as she saw Matsuri enter.

“Welcome! Which one of the newbies are you again?” she asked as she began picking up the pile she dropped. Matsuri cocked her head.

“I’m Matsuri, the new one in town.”

“Oh yeah! Sorry if that was rude, I’ll have everything ready for you in a moment!”

Matsuri nodded and sat down, the frantic girl was Inugami Korone, both a student and worker here. Matsuri didn’t share any classes with the girl, but her bubbly attitude always spread to those around her. She plopped a large stack of envelopes on the counter and sighed, “Alright, so you’ll be on the bike with the plate number twelve on it; your route will be set on the GPS, so you shouldn’t have to worry about anything!” 

She gave a wide smile that Matsuri couldn’t help but return. “Thank you!” Matsuri said quickly as she grabbed the stack which was compressed tightly together with a few rubber bands.

“I’d like to tell you something real quick actually,” she said, causing Matsuri to stop where she was and turn to face Inugami, “What you’re doing for Fubuki is really cool . . . she’s been talking about it non-stop,” she stated.

“You’re friends with her?” Matsuri asked, her curiosity in the brown haired girl was raised.

She nodded fiercely, “Yes, since we were four actually! Recently I’ve been so busy we haven’t been able to hang out as much but sometimes we’ll talk for hours on end at night.”

Matsuri nodded to herself, “Say, do you want to hang out after shift? I could always use a new friend, and maybe if I hung out with you more, she would become more comfortable with me and the other club members faster,” she suggested.

Inugami closed her eyes and stood in silence for a moment, “Alright, but I can’t be out too late, I have to help with the bakery tomorrow and need some rest.”

“Alright! I won’t be too late, I promise!” Matsuri waved and walked out into the small fenced in lot with bike racks lining both sides in long rows, some missing from their slots. 

She walked to the bike with the plate twelve and walked it just outside the wire gate. She sat on the rugged seat and turned on the GPS attached to the handles; there was a blue line that went down many of the streets on the right side of the river where a lot of the stores and recreational stuff was. Matsuri was excited to see what sorts of things this town had to offer, what sorts of things she’d be able to fill her weekends with, and what she could do with her new friends. 

As she petaled down the route, squeezing the papers down the slots as she passed them; occasionally there would be people hanging around the front of their house, cleaning, getting ready for a run, or various other things. Matsuri had short conversations with them before moving on to the next house, gradually getting nearer to downtown. 

It progressively grew closer to the afternoon, Matsuri underestimated how time-consuming this would actually be; from the vantage point, it didn’t look like there were so many houses. She also didn’t expect it would take so much out of her legs, they were sore and she found herself taking breaks way more often than in the beginning.

She rested her arms on the handlebars and leaned over the front of the bike.  _ Shit, and I have to do this until I get 800 dollars. _ After a couple of minutes she sat up straight again and pushed forwards, she made a promise and was determined to keep it. 

By the time it was one she had finally finished up with the residential district, now she was faced with the busy downtown; well, as busy as a town like this got. There was a relatively sizable crowd walking up and down the sidewalks, some familiar faces from her classes even caught her eye.

Midriff-height railing erected a couple inches before the cobblestone pathway dropped off into the flowing river, and across the street was a series of shops and restaurants spaced apart by narrow alleys. Up the walkway was a bridge which crossed to the other side, which was practically a mirror image of the side Matsuri was on.

The road was narrow compared to the sidewalks, there was enough space for the restaurants to have multiple tables with umbrellas over them right on the river. Lampposts stood tall and the lights hung suspended over the road; the aroma of food filled her nose which reminded her of how hungry she was. Perhaps it was time for a lunch break.

She hopped off her bike and walked it up to one of the tables. She leaned her bike against the railing and sat down, grabbing her packed lunch out of the front basket; the metal of the chair was colder than the air around her. She shivered and opened up the lunch her mother had prepared for her. As she ate she looked around intently at her surroundings, taking it all in. 

Her eyes lingered on the bakery right across from the bridge, perhaps that was the bakery Inugami was talking about; then, her eyes shifted to a clothing store which had extremely unique and flamboyant outfits draped over mannequins.

Her eyes continued to comb the environment and suddenly her jaw dropped. Her eyes were fixated on a blonde, brunette, and orange haired girl dressed up in the same uniform Matsuri was in, on the same kind of bike she had leaned against the railing.

Matsuri stood and leaned against the railing; “Hey! What are you guys doing here!”

They stopped cycling and turned their heads towards the source of the yell, and as soon as they saw Matsuri they went red, turning away immediately and seemingly talking to each other. They turned back around and approached the railing adjacent to Matsuri.

“A-Ay, Matsuri . . . I didn’t expect you’d spot us in such a big crowd,” Coco said, her face still a little red. 

“Well it’s not that hard with you around,” Matsuri responded. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she retorted.

Matsuri rolled her eyes, “That’s not the point, what did you guys get jobs for? I didn’t hear anything about you guys wanting anything in particular.”

Coco hastily responded, “It’s because I want to get a— uh— a petal!”

Subaru looked to Coco with an almost scolding look, then returned her blue eyes to meet Matsuri’s; “She felt guilty leaving all the pressure on you, so she convinced us to tag along with some shitty inspirational speech.”

Coco’s face almost matched her hair, “S-Shut up. Are you really going to trust Subaru over a second year like me?”

“Aww really! I didn’t expect a soft side out of you, Coco,” Matsuri cooed.

Subaru and Watame gave a soft chuckle.

“Just shut up,” she huffed and looked away to calm herself.

Matsuri looked down at the rapid flowing river below, only able to see fractions of her reflection in the rough waters. “Hey, have you guys taken your lunch breaks yet?”

“Nope!” Coco and Subaru said in unison, Watame just simply shook her head.

“Well, why not join me,” Matsuri replied.

“Sure, but you expect us to go all the way across the bridge and sit with you?”

“Of course not, you know there’s a table right over there.” The girl nodded to behind them. 

Coco pulled out one of the chairs and slumped in the chair, she took out a hastily put together lunch box that’s contents looked like they were thrown in with no extra thought.

Watame sat with surprisingly good posture despite the informal environment and took out her lunch which was intricately organized. Subaru, who Matsuri had just noticed was wearing a male uniform, threw one of her legs onto the side of the table and took her phone out.

“Don’t you have anything?” Matsuri asked.

“Oh . . . no, I forgot it at home,” she said quickly, she seemed to scroll through whatever she was looking at on her phone faster than before. There was a glint in her eyes, for just a split moment, that Matsuri caught; she couldn’t quite place the emotion they showed or the words her eyes spoke, but there was more to her. 

There was more to all three of these girls than what they put on; Matsuri had always had a keen eye, which she swears she got from her mother, for underlying emotions.

The orange glows glinted off the river which was flowing slower now than it was earlier that day; cold winds began to blanket the downtown, the stone environment only amplifying it. They had just finished and were admiring the beauty of the colors the sun cast around them and listening as the last of the shops closed; the restaurants, however, were still packed.

“Hey, I just want to thank you all for the help; with all of us, it shouldn’t be long at all before we can get the keyboard!” Matsuri blurted in excitement as the thought passed through her head.

Subaru was right next to her followed by Coco, both of them sitting against the railing facing the restaurant across the road, and Watame was sliding her off-white fur gloves around her slender hands.

As they heard Matsuri’s statement, Coco and Subaru shifted a little and looked down, small smiles on their faces and, if the sun hadn’t been setting, the blush would’ve been visible on both their faces. 

They briefly looked at each other and then back down, “Matsuri, I should’ve followed through with what I said in the clubroom,” Coco said. “Th—n ma—e you wou—n’t h—e br—ght out su— a —ft —de in me,” she mumbled under her breath.

Subaru replied in a whisper, and Coco lightly pushed her causing her to fall forward from the railing and stumble on the stone sidewalk, her chuckling the entire time.

“Shut up,” Coco said, clearly holding back a laugh as well.

Matsuri smiled and took out her phone, the clock reading 5:30pm. “Oh shit!” Matsuri blurted, hastily backing up and slipping her phone in her pocket as she hastily hopped on her bike, “Shit, shit, shit. Sorry I’m leaving on such short notice!” 

Matsuri began racing down to the postal office, she couldn’t believe she forgot about Inugami. She skirted to a stop in the bike storage and hastily put her bike in its place before stumbling in just as the brown haired girl was about to leave.

“S-Sorry, I got caught up and lost track of time!” Matsuri huffed.

Inugami waved her hand, “Matsuri it looked like you rushed here! It’s fine, I didn’t want to have you leave your friends to accompany me,” she replied.

“I-I can walk home with you if you like,” Matsuri suggested; she didn’t really think about how they were going to hang out, she wasn’t much of a planner.

“Oh, don’t feel like you have to or anything, especially if it’s out of the way.”

“I want to! It’d be my pleasure,” Matsuri said as she stood straight and smiled at the girl. She nodded and picked her things up before walking out the front door; she locked it and began walking alongside Matsuri, staying slightly ahead of her. 

“Inugami, how do you think Fubuki will work with us?”

The street was silent apart from the occasional front door being shut, it was tranquil. The light receded with the sun and the streetlamps flickered on illuminating the empty streets. 

“She’s always been a bit of an odd girl, it will probably take her a while to adjust to all four of you. It took her at least a month to actually have a full conversation back to me when we first met. She was young though, so maybe she’s changed since then.”

Matsuri nodded, hopefully this club won’t be too much of a change for her.

“But once she warms up to you, she is an amazing friend and will be by your side for anything,” she explained, smiling as seemingly mused about something.

Much of the walk was silent; it’s funny, however, that you can bond with someone by just being in their presence in silence. 

“So why did Fubuki choose to approach our club out of all the other choices she had?” Matsuri asked as the thought passed.

“She’s been into keyboard since I knew her; the other music clubs already had pianists, so she figured she’d ask your club!” Inugami explained. “I’m glad to see you’re so interested to know more about her.”

“Well, I want to know about her to help her feel more comfortable, y’know?”  _ Plus, she’s absolutely adorable,  _ she thought. 

Inugami stopped, and so did Matsuri. “This is my house, so I guess this is where we part ways. See you around,” she said as she gave a small wave and jogged to the front door. She swung it open and Matsuri could catch a brief view of a hectic looking environment; there were two tall men in school uniform, whom Matsuri assumed were older brothers of the girl. One was storming down the stairs and narrowly missed ramming into Inugami, the other facepalmed and seemed to start scolding him before the door shut.

Matsuri continued walking down the street, Inugami’s home was surprisingly close to her own. After about ten minutes of walking, she opened the door and took her shoes off before immediately being navigated to the kitchen by an amazing scent.

“Finally, I was getting worried,” her mother said as she was getting done cleaning off the table.

“Sorry mom,” Matsuri grumbled, her whole body was sore and she especially felt it after sitting down. Her mother had cooked her favorite, teriyaki chicken over rice; her mother’s homemade teriyaki sauce was unrivaled.

“It’s fine, I’m happy to see you having such enthusiasm about something.” She finished up what she was doing and looked to the clock on the stove, “It’s late, I’m going to bed. I’m sorry I can’t accompany you tonight,” she said as she started to yawn. 

Matsuri started eating, “I’sh fine, thank you so much!” she said, flashing her mother a smile. She gave a smile back and ruffled Matsuri’s hair before walking upstairs.

Once Matsuri finished she cleaned her plate off and went to her room. She fell unto her bed and looked up at the roof. She felt like she had just ran three marathons and anticipated it was going to be worse when she woke up tomorrow. Her eyelids felt heavy and she began to slip into a needed sleep.

_ Matsuri was surprised about Sara’s response, her face went dark red and she averted her eyes. She was about to answer with a yes, but Sara quickly followed her statement with a chuckle, “I’m just kidding, you know I’m not that cheesy. I know what you’re trying to say, you’re my closest friend compared to everyone else as well.” _

_ Matsuri felt like she wanted to start crying, she wanted to just confess and say she loved her, but being baited and friendzoned like that so suddenly . . . “I-I’m glad,” she responded. Her eyes were burning as she held back her tears. _

_ She was stupid to think Sara would return her feelings, she should’ve never expected Sara to feel the same way. She saw Sara out of the reflection of the glass; she sat back and was staring at the floor of the cart, there seemed to be something off but Matsuri’s emotions were so high she couldn’t focus on anything else. _

_ Why couldn’t she have just suppressed her feelings and gotten rid of them before they grew, before she let them tear her apart like this. The cart slowly began to sink back down to the ground, there was a tense silence that weighed down the air. The cart rocked as it came to a halt and once the doors slid open, Sara and Matsuri exitted, their friends waiting for them. They didn’t seem to catch on to the new found tension between Matsuri and Sara. _

_ They left the park and began walking their way home. Matsuri festered in her feelings of heartbreak, regret, and yearning for a different result. Clips of different ways it could have turned out played in her mind, all of them ending with that result she desperately yearned. Little did she know the worst was yet to come. _

_ When she got home she immediately stormed to her room, throwing her phone on the bed before throwing herself onto it as well. She buried her face in her pillow and let out the tears she held back in the cart; each reenactment of the scene ripped her heart even more. She wanted to stop imagining it but couldn’t pull herself out of her mind. Stop. Stop, just stop it already. I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I had feelings for her; can I take it back? Take back everything I said; take back my one sided love? _

_ She was pulled out by the vibration of a notification on her phone. She grabbed it and turned her head to see the screen; her eyes widened and it took her brain a moment to process what she had just read. _

_ This couldn’t be true . . . _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Got an Insta and Twitter now to connect with the small community of Hololive fanfic readers that is you guys! I will be posting pretty mundane stuff like chapter snippets, updates on how chapters are doing, maybe some stupid memes and shit, or if for whatever reason you make a fanart of one of the scenes in the fic (fan-content inception!) you can send it to me!
> 
> I do, however, have one big project for this fanfic that I will start working on soon and will be releasing teasers and stuff for on Instagram! It should be really fun! I hope to get better at writing as I continue on this journey with you guys, and I thank you in advance for being patient with me! Thank you for every single read and kudos, it may sound cheesy but every time I see that number go up by one, I get motivated.
> 
> Instagram: @crappyfanficwriter
> 
> Twitter: @DDForever6
> 
> I will be more active on Instagram


	4. Predator and Prey (First Draft)

A couple days had passed; she didn’t have enough time to work so she had to request only weekends which would make the process a lot longer than she hoped. The classes dragged on; half the time Matsuri was in her own head wondering how she could get the money faster, trying her best to keep her mind occupied so she wouldn’t think of that blonde; anything to stop her from thinking about Sara.

Lunch came around, Coco and Subaru keeping her company as always; however, something struck Matsuri as odd.

“Hey, isn’t Watame normally droning behind you all the time, Coco; where is she today?” Matsuri inquired.

“Oh yeah, funny shit!” she said, seeming not to care that her tone was loud enough so the whole half of the class could hear her swearing; “We were assigned a group project today and she got paired up with this crazy ass bitch; absolutely priceless! I’ve never seen her so flustered in my life!” Coco roared, a voluminous laugh escaping her mouth.

Subaru pinched the bridge of her nose and grinded her teeth, “Can you quiet down; have you ever been taught an inside voice?!” Subaru retorted.

Coco gave a nervous grin and she looked to Subaru; “My bad, it’s not necessarily something I’m used to.”

Matsuri caught that same glint in Subaru’s eyes. 

The tomboy looked away, “I know,” she muttered.

“So . . .” Matsuri interjected, looking to steer the conversation to something that lightened the air a bit, “about this whole keyboard situation, we agreed to pool our money together, right?” she asked for confirmation.

Coco and Subaru now turned their attention towards Matsuri, “Yeah, so far we can cover about a quarter of the price,” Subaru explained. Matsuri was actually surprised Subaru was keeping track, in fact it was the last thing she expected from her.

“Really?! That’s awesome, and just in one weekend; that’s like three more weeks left!” Matsuri cheered, standing from her chair with her hands planted flat on her desk, her eyes shimmering and a wide smile pasted across her face.

She leaned over and hugged Subaru tightly, barely able to contain her excitement. She kept the hug tight, “I think I love you, Subaru,” she cooed jokingly. 

Subaru immediately broke the hug and chuckled along with Matsuri. “You’re welcome,” she answered, her face a soft pink.

Matsuri still had that large smile on her face, and before she could continue to express her enthusiasm the bell rang and Coco stood up with a sigh, “I guess I’ll get going; meet you guys after school. I’ll try to get Watame to the club room today.” She lumbered out of the room with her half-eaten lunch, which was wrapped in a tattered cloth, dangling on her left hand. 

She narrowly swerved out of the way as a student suddenly turned into the classroom. “Watch it!” she yelled as she backed into the hall. The girl jumped and went white as a ghost, as any first year would when confronted in such a tone by a second year.

Coco disappeared behind the wall as she turned to return to her class. Subaru returned to her seat and classes continued like normal; Matsuri couldn’t help but wonder what sort of situation Watame was in, from the sound of how Coco described it, it sounded humorous. She dipped in and out of paying attention to class, and it was obvious as suddenly eight words pierced her ears and caught her attention immediately.

“Matsuri, can you answer this question for us?” She sat up like she had been suddenly woken and she blushed hard as the class now had their attention on her.

“U-Uh.” She read the question on the board; of course it was the hardest one. She read the question and silence rang out in her ears, she was completely stumped at the answer. Her brain seemed to stop working and there was probably the most awkward silence. 

Just as her brain kicked back into gear the teacher waved her wrist. “Sit,” she ordered, causing Matsuri to sink into her seat in defeat, and she gestured for the student behind her to answer, which she quickly did causing Matsuri to practically melt as the answer should’ve been obvious.

The rest of the classes dragged on, two periods before the final bell rang the grey clouds thickened and it began to rain hard. Matsuri stared out the window at her own reflection, betting in her mind on which droplets would reach the bottom window seal first. Finally, it was the end of the last period, the rain hadn’t let up a single bit but maybe after the club was finished it wouldn’t be near as bad. Of course today was the day Matsuri had to forget her umbrella.

The students, for the first time Matsuri had seen, weren’t rushing out of class as soon as the bell rang in excitement, they lingered around the classroom and talked amongst friends. Subaru was joking and lightly rough-housing with some of the male students; as the small girl passed by the tomboy, she dragged her along out the door and towards the stairwell that led to the clubroom.

“Oi oi! Don’t be so rough,” Subaru snapped as she waved her arms frantically to break off Matsuri’s grip, stepping away and following closely behind her.

“Hey Subaru, do you think Watame’ll show? Or will we have to disband oh so early in our rise to stardom,” Matsuri said melodramatically.

Subaru rolled her eyes, “Stardom, huh? That's pretty ambitious . . . Matsuri, why are you so adamant about getting that keyboard for that girl, Fubuki, was it?”

Matsuri thought to herself, a quick flash of Sara flashed in her mind, which was quickly followed by Fubuki. “I . . . I don’t know; there’s something familiar about her I guess,” she answered, “something compelling me to learn more about her, y’know?”

Subaru looked down, “Yeah, I do know. How do you think Coco views me— us, with us being first years and her being a second year?” she asked softly.

“She seems to be pretty comfortable with hanging out with us, and she actually seems especially happy around you.”

Despite her short bangs, her head was bowed so low they still managed to cover her expression; “Is that so?” 

Matsuri turned her head over her shoulder to look at her but suddenly she bumped into the open door of the music club room. “Ow!” she whined as she stumbled back and rubbed her head. Subaru gave a small chuckle and walked in.

Matsuri followed suit and walked into a chaotic situation; Fubuki standing in front of the chalkboard, seemingly frozen in place in the middle of writing something, her face completely red. She was staring at Coco, who had the collar of Watame’s uniform clutched firmly in her hand pulling her, whilst her other hand was pushing a grey-haired girl who looked like she was about to claw at Coco. Watame was fruitlessly trying to calm the situation and stumbling on her words; “C-Coco, Shishiro, calm down,” she muttered.

“It’s your fault for hogging her!” Coco yelled.

“What is she your girlfriend or something?!” she snapped back, fierce as a lion, but Coco didn’t even seem phased. Then her tone changed like the drop of a hat, “Also Watame, you can call me Botan,” she purred.

If Watame could’ve gone even more red, she would have. Coco grinded her teeth and finally managed to pull Watame from Shishiro’s grip, causing both of them to stumble back. Matsuri couldn’t help but give a slight chuckle at the situation; Watame looked like prey stuck between two predators. One as fierce and confident as a lion; the other as loud and large as a dragon; and Watame, weak and humble like a sheep.

Subaru announced herself causing Coco and Fubuki to glance in the direction. Fubuki gave a small yelp and stood with the most impeccable posture with her head bowed low.  _ So cute. _ As soon as Coco waved at Subaru, Watame was pulled away by Shishiro, who had her arms tightly wrapped around the blonde now.

“Are you sure you want to hang out with these people; I’m sure we could have a lot more fun at my house,” she whispered, almost nibbling her ear; Watame visibly shivered. Shishiro’s eyes, however, were locked on Coco, and a wicked grin grew on her face as the vein in Coco’s temple clearly showed.

“W-Why don’t you watch us,” Watame answered quickly, it seemed like she had a hard time even thinking of the response. Argument ensued as Coco, Watame, Shishiro, and Subaru all had different opinions on how it should play out; if Watame wasn’t there, Matsuri would’ve worried that they might get into a physical fight, but instead she crept over to Fubuki as to not get dragged into the whole argument.

“Hey Fubuki,” she said playfully as she leaned against the chalkboard, her arms crossed and her eyes on the adorable girl.

She looked up, her green eyes slightly lighter than Matsuri’s, and gave a quiet response, “M-Matsuri, right?” 

“You bet. Why did you show up today?”

Matsuri could practically see the steam rising from her face, “W-W-W-Well . . . I wanted t-t-to thank you guys f-f-for . . . well,” she trailed off, muttering something Matsuri couldn’t pick up, “t-then Watame and Shishiro came in, t-t-they said I could finish up, but them Coco came a-and . . . now we’re here,” she answered.

Matsuri lightly blushed. She turned and gave the already flustered Fubuki a large hug, “Aw! You don’t have to thank us, we’re just simply helping out a club member, though, it could be more if you wanted,” she said softly.

Fubuki turned her head to look at Matsuri’s face, what her expression was, completely promiscuous. Like a fox, she slipped out of her grip by ducking and stood in front of her, “I-I-I have to go!” she shouted, turning on her heel and storming out of the club room.

_ I must’ve moved a bit too quick, huh? _

__ Shishiro’s laugh filled the class, “Wow this club is a mess! What are you trying to do, chase away all your members?!”

“Shut up!” Coco and Subaru yelled in unison, and suddenly . . .  _ smack. _ Shishiro stumbled back, her hand clutching her cheek, which was increasingly reddening and puffing up. Coco was breathing heavily, and there wasn’t a hint of regret in her eyes as she rubbed her hands together to soothe the sting.

“Everyone, lets calm do—”

The moment Coco turned away Shishiro lunged at her, her claws extended as she pushed and pinned Coco to the ground. She reeled her fist back and looked down at the red haired girl who was too surprised to even react. 

“You dare hit me!” she roared as she began to throw her fist down. Coco flinched, expecting a hard punch; a punch that never came as Subaru grabbed Shishiro’s arm.

Coco’s large smile faded and she crawled out from under Shishiro. They both stood and stared each other down and it was one of the most intense staring contests Matsuri had ever witnessed; nothing was even happening and her heart skipped a beat. 

The look the girls exchanged, however, to Matsuri’s surprise was not of hate or disdain, but competitive.

Coco had slapped Shishiro hard enough that now it was lightly bleeding. The girl brushed Subaru off her arm and stormed out of the club room.

“Crazy ass bitch,” Coco muttered to herself with a smile.

Matsuri had hooked everything up and they practiced until they couldn’t anymore, it was the most intense session they played.

Coco sighed and finished her drink, looking at the setting sun. She took a deep breath and sat back in the chair. Her phone rang again and she looked at it with disgust; she just wanted to throw her phone and break it whenever his name showed up on the screen.  _ Fuck you.  _ She thought as she hung up for the fourth time that evening.

As she looked at her contacts, she tapped on Matsuri, wondering if she would answer. The phone dialed and she hastily picked up.

“Coco, what’s going on? Don’t you normally tell me not to call you after school hours?”

“Yeah, I just figured I’d let you know . . . That whole ordeal in the club earlier; well, me, Subaru, and Shishiro got detention tomorrow,” she explained.

“Seriously?!” Matsuri yelled nearly loud enough to bust the speaker on Coco’s phone. Luckily she held it away from her ear or she would’ve been deaf too.

“Yeah, sorry . . . I don’t think we’ll be able to attend the club tomorrow.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, cementing the guilt that pulled at Coco’s heart.

“It’s fine,” the voice finally answered.

“Are you sure, I can skip i—”

“I’m sure, it’s fine, really.”

Coco knew damn well she was lying, but she sighed and nodded to herself. “Alright. I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

“Hey, make it up to me by having fun with Subaru . . . and please, try not to get in a fight with Shishiro again.”

“Heh. She was the one who started it, so as long as she doesn’t try no shit this time, I’ll be fine.”

There were some thumps on the other end of the phone before Matsuri spoke again; “Hey, what was Fubuki doing when you came in?”

Coco thought back, and if she was being honest to herself she didn’t even notice Fubuki until Shishiro brought it up. “She was writing something on the chalkboard I think.” She figured she’d give at least something besides an ‘I don’t know’.

“Figured you wouldn’t have noticed . . . hey, I have to eat, so I’m going to let you go.”

“See you,” Coco said before hanging up. She looked around at all the closed stores, well, every store was closed besides one. It’s lights were still on and the neon sign lit up in a cream off-white; “Inugami Bakery,” she said to herself.

She stood up and put her phone in her pocket, anything to occupy her time and avoid going home was worth it, and she had never been there before. As she opened the door, the bell dinged and a girl immediately peeked out from the kitchen.

“Welcome!” she howled before nearly dropping the dough she had in her arms. “Give me just a moment!”

What a klutz. Coco’s observation was only confirmed as the girl did indeed drop the dough and a huge puff of flour filled the doorway followed by a quick yelp. “Oh crap! Crap crap crap!” she whined before getting up.

Her face was completely white along with her hair because of the flour that now caked her. Coco approached the counter after the flour settled and leaned against the counter against her arms. Inugami stumbled to the counter, an odd, awkward smile on her face.

“Sorry about that, welcome to Inugami Bakery, I’m Korone Inugami!”

She’s working here this late? She looks like a first year, I thought they had limits on how late they could work on school nights, even if it is at her parents business.

“Kiryu Coco,” she answered, staring through the pane of glass that displayed the items that were on sale, they all looked so delicious.

Coco began inquiring about the pastries, what was in them, how much they were. Inugami answered every single one of them with vigor and enthusiasm comparable to Matsuri’s attitude towards music and the club. By the end of it, she walked out with 60 dollars worth of pastries. It always ended up like this, Coco would see amazing looking food or snacks without looking at the price.

Her phone buzzed again, and she pulled her phone out of her pocket. She answered without looking and immediately regretted it. 

“Coco, you didn’t answer my calls earlier,” the low voice droned.

“Shit!” she yelled.

“Get home. Now,” he demanded.

“Fine!” she yelled right into the microphone before hastily hanging up.

Matsuri rested her head against her pillow, her fingers sore from hours of practicing; despite the pain, the blisters she was growing, she felt extremely proud of her improvement.

She looked over at the manga that rested against the window; why would Sara be so adamant about giving Matsuri the book? As she thought about it, she wondered if something was in it; she hadn’t opened it since she got it . . .

She turned away to face the wall and curled up into a fetal position. Memories she didn’t want to think about flowed into her mind as she began to slip into sleep.

_ There was no way . . . she didn’t even bother to get dressed properly, she left her phone on the bed and ran down the stairs. _

_ “Mom! I’m going to the hospital, Sara . . . she’s been struck by a car!” Matsuri huffed, and before her mother could respond with an offer to drive her she slammed the door and sprinted down the busy streets. She didn’t care what people would think seeing a young teen in her pajamas running down the sidewalk in tears. _

_ Was this her fault in some way? If she would’ve avoided confessing, then she could’ve walked home with her, maybe even along with her group of friends. She still didn’t even know if she could believe what she had read, surely she was going to run into the hospital, ask to see Sara, and look like an idiot as they told her there was no Sara there . . . please, let there be no Sara. _

_ She sniffled and screamed as she entered the hospital; the lobby was busy but quiet, they all looked at her intently. “Where is Hoshikawa Sara!” she yelled, “Let me see her!” _

_ The woman at the counter raised her hand, “Calm down, let me look on the list,” she said as she flipped through the papers. _

_ “Ma’am, Hoshikawa is currently in intensive care.” _

_ The exact opposite of what she wanted to hear. Her heart skipped a beat and she felt like she was going to throw up. No . . . no this couldn’t be true. _

_ “You are free to wait in the waiting room until you can see her,” she said. _

_ Matsuri felt empty inside, she wanted to yell and demand she see Sara now, but she knew it wouldn’t do any good. She turned and put her name on the waiting room list before sitting down, she was the only one in the room. _

_ She buried her head in her knees and balled, she wanted to scream her lungs out, curse herself out for being stupid, for being ignorant. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Forgive me, Sara. Tears soaked the cloth of her pajamas, at least let me say sorry to her face. _

_ Hours went on, Matsuri was alone in the room the entire time, she felt emptier than she ever had before. Sara probably didn’t even want to see her, in fact she was probably the last person she’d want to see, but Matsuri didn’t care; she was going to be there for her. Even if Sara didn’t love her back, she was still going to stick by her. No matter what. _

_ The door opened and in came a doctor who lowered his surgical mask and looked at a clipboard clutched in his right hand. “Natsuiro Matsuri, you are clear to visit Hoshikawa Sara,” he said. “Room 419,” he said before shutting the door. _

_ Matsuri practically ran through the halls to the elevator. She selected the fourth floor, and as soon as the elevator doors opened she stormed to the room number the doctor gave her. She stopped in front of the door, her hand falling to the metal handle. _

_ She didn’t know what she was going to see, she wondered if it was going to make her throw up. She took a deep breath and pushed the handle down before swinging the door open . . . _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp . . . I mixed up the names and wrote them the in the wrong order. I'm just going to roll with it for consistency sake.


	6. Surprises! (First Draft)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many surprises await Coco, Matsuri, Fubuki, and most of all, the audience that had to wait way to long for this mediocre chapter!

Coco’s heavy eyes slowly opened, immediately peering at the glowing number of the clock that rested on her night stand. They read 9:30am; already an hour and a half late for school. The rest of her room was nearly pitch black aside from the little bit of light that seeped through the heavy blanket she had hung over her window. She was wearing an old death metal band tee that was a couple sizes too big for her; frankly it looked like a dress, yet still seemed to be a bit tight around her chest. 

She sat at the edge of her bed and stared at the wall, she wondered what the fuck she was even getting up for. Right . . . the club, and that brat Matsuri; at least that’s what she’d prefer to think of her as just to avoid bringing up her soft spot. She got up to change into her uniform, her room was a fucking mess but she lacked the motivation to clean it, she hated her room and this house anyways, so why pick up the cigarette butts, monster cans, and dirty clothes strewed carelessly across the carpet floor. She threw open her closet and took her uniform from the hanger before tossing them on her bed.

She took off her night shirt and as neatly as she could, folded it and placed it on her pillow. She brought the uniform up to her nose and gave it a whiff; it wasn’t repulsing, so she figured it was alright. She hastily put it on, and by the time she finished it looked like she got a checklist of what the dress code was and purposely avoided every single one. She opened the door to her room and was nearly blinded by the barrage of light hitting her eyes, every time that shit always got her.

Her father had left for work already, so she didn’t have to worry about being bothered by his sorry ass. While she didn’t necessarily like him and the way he’s been since her mother passed she knew he cared, he was just way too overprotective and harsh on her. 

As she stepped towards the front door she heard crunching underneath her feet. She looked down at the floor and saw there was a huge mess; shattered glass, scattered pieces of a picture frame, and beneath her foot was a photograph, one she remembered vividly. Coco was seven, and she was sandwiched between her mother and father. All of them had wide smiles on their faces as Big Ben stood erect behind them. It was just two years before the sickness really started to affect her. She picked up the picture and found herself smiling, she looked so happy . . .

She folded up the picture and slipped it into her bag before leaving, locking the door behind her; she could already tell how today was going to feel, and it soon dawned on her that she was going to have to spend a couple hours with Botan. She contemplated just not showing up, but then she realized the possibility of getting kicked out of the club which would make her feel horrible about letting down such a new found friend, she let out a harsh sigh as she began to imagine how awful it was going to be, all for the eccentric first year she met a month ago. She really hoped that Botan was a different person when she’s away from Watame.

Her train of thought came to a screeching halt as a “Hey, Coco!” intercepted its tracks. It took her a moment to process the voice, but as soon as it clicked she immediately questioned herself if it would’ve been better being late than running into the source.

“Well if it isn’t pussy-cat. Away from Watame, huh?” Coco said as she turned on her heel to face Botan who was approaching her at a casual pace. She slowly lowered her arm she had been waving with and rested it on her hip.

“Well I can’t stay on my prey's rear twenty-four seven, a . . . what did you call me, lion, was it? Yeah, a lion has to take time to tend to herself and rest, you should know. Actually, I can smell it from here, perhaps I could teach you how to at least make yourself presentable.”

Coco would’ve been fine but her remark the Botan tailed at the end pushed a button Coco didn’t know she had. She gritted her teeth, her face reddening from her growing anger but she closed her eyes, bit her tongue, and turned her back; the last thing she needed was another rule broken on her novel-length list.

She raised her middle finger as she joined the morning commune of students in front of her, “Have a good day, bitch. Wouldn’t want that pretty little self of yours you spent hours grooming to get dirty,” she called back as she passed through the gates of the school.

She was going to find a way to get back at that gray-haired bitch for insulting her about a situation she didn’t even know about. She had to think of something that couldn’t be tied back to herself, something that would absolutely ruin her day, and she knew just who she needed to talk to in order to make it happen.

She had a general idea of what classes she had, but no idea where she could find her target before classes started; normally she’d just look for the loudest room on the floor and most of the time she was there. It was oddly quiet down the corridor she normally found her target in, in fact it was quite off putting. As she walked further down, the reverberation from the voices of the students slowly faded to silence, she checked her watch and figured she didn’t have much time to find her, so she just went to the room she seemed to frequent.

She approached the door and as she looked to see through the window she noticed the blinds were obstructing the view. She didn’t think much of it and pushed the latch on the door and with a click the door stood loose. She slid it open and felt cold water drench her and a bucket clank against the floor. There were several clicks from phone cameras and then an “aww” from several girls.

Coco opened her eyes to process everything that had just happened, and that’s when she saw a semicircle of students around her, all with phones in their hands slowly lowering them. 

“What the hell?!” Coco yelled. The girls yelped and backed away, all except one who remained standing, seemingly looking at the picture displayed on her phone and taking the lollipop out of her mouth with a slight  _ pop _ .

“Not who I expected, but I certainly don’t mind it,” she said with a big smile, “It’s been forever, Coco!”

“Omaru! I should’ve known this was you! What do you mean I wasn’t who you were expecting?”

She popped the sucker back in her mouth and closed her phone, “Well, this year our teacher is smoking hot and we were hoping that the water would get us some nice shots, but you’ll do,” she said, though strangely it didn’t come off at all as promiscuous, maybe it was her wide, innocent smile. “Anyways, what did you want me for?”

“Right! Erm, there's someone I want to get a little revenge on, and I was thinking you’d be just the girl to help.”

Her eyes lit up, “Really, you need my help pranking somebody?! Who is it, what kind of prank were you thinking, let me in on all of it!” she yelped, barely able to contain her excitement.

Coco sat on the edge of one of the nearby desks and sighed, “Botan, I’m sure you know her, she's one of the newer second years, dresses in fancy gold shit, mega bitch.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard rumors. You guys got in a fight yesterday, right?”

“Yeah, right. I totally beat her ass by the way, just to clarify. Anyways, yeah I need your help to get back at her for something she did to me this morning.”

“Alright! I already have so many ideas! Invisible stainer that only shows up when the clothes get wet, offer her a drink but it's secretly lemon juice, I have so many options!” She pulled out her bag and hastily opened it, revealing an arsenal of prank devices like airhorns, fake food, and other nicknacks.

“Just something that’ll make the day just a little bit worse, but not completely ruined, you can have your fun and choose whatever you like.”

As Coco said this her face lit up and she looked at Coco in disbelief. “R-Really? H-Heh, I have so many things I haven’t tried yet, this is going to be so exciting!” She jumped up a little and began rummaging through her things, listing all her ideas as she did.

Coco gave a wave and walked into the hallway, saying a quick goodbye before heading to her first class. Her mind raced as she thought about what sort of concoction Omaru would come up with. She walked in the classroom, just in time in fact as the bell went off as soon as she shut the door behind her, and sat down at her table. The day went on relatively normal, Coco dozing off in the middle of classes and, by sheer luck, getting every question she was called on to answer right. 

Lunch came around and Coco made her way to the classroom Matsuri was in, slumping unto the seat with a sigh. Matsuri was already eating and Subaru was trying to slow her down so she didn’t choke or do something else stupid.

Subaru turned towards Coco as she sat down, “Something on your mind?”

Matsuri looked up, her cheeks puffed up with food, “Y-Yeah, s-shomeshing on your—”  _ gulp,  _ “mind?”

“Matsuri, it’s rude to talk with your mouth full!” Subaru snapped.

“S-Sorry,” she gave a small giggle and turned her attention towards Coco. Of course she’d be forced to spill the beans. 

“Botan, she was sort of a pain in my ass this morning and put me in a bit of a bad mood,” she answered.

Matsuri gave a nod, but Subaru’s ears seemed to perk at the response. Subaru always seemed to be attentive, especially attuned to Coco’s unspoken feelings, even as a kid when they first met, it was also the reason they drifted apart all those years ago. It always made Coco’s heart ache when she thought back on it, and even though she was so happy to be close to Subaru once again, whenever she looked into her eyes she couldn’t pry her mind away from what happened.

_ Coco was twelve, and Subaru was eleven. She still hadn’t told Subaru about her mother’s passing and her father’s attitude change, but she still knew something was off based on how Coco was acting; more rebellious and distant emotionally. It was right there on the dock, Coco sitting beside Subaru as they stared at the falling sun sinking below the vast ocean, dark rays of orange refracted off the ripples and waves of the ocean. It was silent, the past hour they were out there was, it was relaxing as much as it was odd when put into the perspective of their relationship up to that point. _

_ Subaru looked down, Coco remembered it vividly, the swirl of reluctance and sadness in her eye as she slowly lifted her head to look at the girl next to her. “You know, I recently started reading a book . . . a generic hero fights a dragon to save a princess. It’s actually kind of unique, because the dragon gets more characterization than you typically see, he has a reason for doing what he’s doing, he has a reason for hiding his treasures, for taking the prince—” _

_ “Subaru, what are you getting at?” Coco interrupted. _

_ “Why are you hiding something that clearly has you blue, Coco? I don’t like seeing you the way you’ve been, I want you to be the Coco I knew back in k—” _ _   
_ _ Coco stood up hastily which caused Subaru to jump just slightly, “That's none of your business,” she growled. _

_ “Yes it is Coco, you’re my friend and I can’t just let you keep getting in trouble and ruining yourself,” she said as composed as she could, though a small wave still revealed itself in her voice. _

_ “Ruin myself? You’ve seen it happening for the past three years and you didn’t say anything about it until now?!” _ _   
_ _ “Well, I was hoping you would’ve just told me, I would have been there for you,” she responded, she could feel her emotions slowly welling up. _

_ “Oh, yeah. You would’ve been there for me, yet didn’t want to take the initiative to ask before now, huh? Everyday in my lonely fucking house I cried into my pillow, waiting and hoping someone would call out to me to show they would’ve cared enough to take time out of their day for me!” she shouted, though she knew that it was partially her fault, she buried that thought so she wouldn’t blame herself and do something she’d regret to her own self. _

_ Subaru’s eyes widened, she was genuinely surprised as, up to this point, Coco had never cussed before. _

_ Subaru’s eyes began to water and she let herself slip, reacting emotionally, “Why should others have to take initiative on solving and helping you with problems you don’t even communicate? The world doesn’t revolve around you and I can’t just read your thou—” _

_ “My mother fucking died and my father went off the deep end because of it! Are you happy now?! It’s all on the fucking table! I have to come home every night to an empty house because my dad doesn’t know any other way to deal with grief besides giving into his addiction to working, skip meals of the day because I’m not around to make them, having to cook for myself at eight at night, go to bed and repeat! Do you understand how lonely it gets, how tormenting it is sitting in silence with my imagination?” _

_ Both Coco and Subaru had tears flowing down their cheeks at this point, Subaru hiccuping and quietly sobbing as Coco blew up. _

_ “I’m sorry,” she muttered between hiccups. _

_ Coco stood there silent, she felt relieved that she had finally told someone what she had been bottling up, and she wanted to accept Subaru’s apology, and even felt an extreme guilt for yelling so harshly, but for some reason her mouth spoke the contrary. _

_ “Fuck you,” she huffed before storming off away from the dock leaving Subaru curled up against one of the wooden pillars supporting the rugged dock, sobbing harshly as night fell upon the landscape. Coco wanted to turn back, wanted to say sorry to her for being so harsh, but the guilt began to set in; “She wouldn’t forgive you. You’ll never have such a good relationship with her again, so why bother?” Those kinds of thoughts raced through her head, shooting down every attempt to gather courage to apologize like she should have. _

“Really? Normally it’s pretty hard to put you in a bad mood . . . unless—” she stopped herself, “Ah, well are you going to get back at her?”

“Already have a plan, talked to Omaru this morning and she’s in charge of it all,” Coco explained.

“Omaru? Who’s that?” Matsuri asked.

“An old friend, a little off the walls but a kind heart . . . I think.”

The brunette gave a small smile, “A bit like me?”

Coco leaned back and looked up, “Yeah, I suppose so . . . that brings me to something actually. We’ve known each other for a little bit now, and yet I still know nothing about what your life was like in the city,” she said.

Matsuri perked up, “Oh, it was an absolute blast! I still got tons of stories and pictures to go along with them on my phone!” She hastily pulled it out and sat next to Coco, and soon Subaru sat beside her, sandwiching her between the two. She began going through the pictures and talking extensively about each one.

“Summers were a blast! The festivals were massive and no matter where you were you could see the beautiful lights, hear the distant music, or see the fireworks! This was Rosalyn, if I ever wanted to have a nice fun conversation she’d be the girl I’d go to! One year she accidentally shot a firework off and broke the window of my apartment building. Of course my mom was pissed and forced me to pay for it, but the thrill made it worth it!” Matsuri had a constant smile on her face as she kept going, Subaru absolutely fascinated with how big the city looked just through the limited view of the camera and Coco was as well, but definitely hid it better.

“And then there was—” she stopped for a moment and stared at the photo on the phone, her expression changing ever so slightly from joy to sadness as she looked on in what seemed like a longing manner. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Subaru asked. As she did Matsuri immediately flipped to the next picture.

“Of course! I’m fine, anyways, where was I? Right! Then there was Moona . . .” Her scrolling got slower as the photos of the most recent summer flew by. Eventually she stopped at a picture of a blonde girl with cotton candy in one hand and the other holding a peace sign up with her fingers, a large smile on her face like she had just had the happiest moment in her life. She placed her phone face down on the desk and took a deep breath in, “Whelp, I think that’s enough of that . . . lunch period is about over anyways, shouldn’t you be going back to your class?” Matsuri asked as she looked up at Coco.

Coco nodded, hopping off the desk and beginning to make her way out of the classroom, she looked back. She couldn’t help but be reminded of the dock, she didn’t want to do what Subaru did, she didn’t want to persist, but she knew Subaru probably would and she didn’t want something like that to happen again. Maybe Subaru is thinking back as well, maybe she’ll just leave her be.

Coco sighed as the end of the school day came upon her, and the start of the real fun of being stuck with Botan for two or three hours came closer by the minute. She had yet to be entertained with the prank Omaru promised to pull, so like always, her day was an absolute drag, a track on repeat, like listening to screamo for hours upon hours; absolutely mind numbing.

The bell rang and everyone left the class for their clubs or other after school duties as they did, and Coco remained at her desk, her chin on her hand as she stared out the window. She heard a light reverberation from above, it sounded like music, Coco never realized how close the club room was to her final class, she smiled as she listened to them practice for a little bit. She felt a bit more calm afterwards and finally found the motivation to get up; so she could attend the club room tomorrow. She strode out of the classroom and made her way down to the staff wing of the building where she was immediately greeted by Subaru and Botan. The bitch seemed to be a bit mellow compared to how she was this morning or how Coco had normally seen her, she remained cross armed and didn’t even look up at her, instead her gaze intent on the floor below; in fact her whole demeanor was different.

“Coco you’re finally here! You were so late I thought you were just going to skip out!” Subaru said with a smile, turning Coco’s attention away from Botan and towards the tomboy in front of her.

“Of course I wouldn’t skip out on this, I want to get back into the club with everyone!”

Subaru’s eyes lit up, “I’m so happy to see you so passionate about something, Coco! I heard the school festival is coming up soon and she already has plans for it!”

“Really? What kind of plans, we haven’t even written anything yet, all we’ve done is cover songs and talked about a couple of ideas.”

“Well . . . she plans on showing off our club's skill with the covers . . . and have one original done by then, but she’s kind of airheaded so I’m not sure about that last one,” Subaru muttered. “She also has one more big surprise for us I heard! She’s literally been blabbering about how exciting it is all day so she’s got a lot to live up to,” she said.

Coco put her hand to her chin, wondering how Matsuri could possibly surprise them.

The door swung open and a man came in and sat down with a sigh, “You girls Botan, Coco, and Subaru? Don’t bother answering, I already know it. Coco, I’m surprised you stayed out of here as long as you did, maybe you actually found something you can contribute to?”

Before Cooc could respond, Botan stood up hastily and approached him eye to eye.

“Hey, don’t talk to her like you bastard,” Botan growled, “On— I’m a— t—” she said, it was hard to pick up on it as she was talking so quietly.

“You don’t want another day of this, do you? You will be spending 2 hours picking up around campus . . .  _ together,  _ do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir,” they all said in unison.

“Go,” he said.

The three left and grabbed what was required right outside the door, Coco couldn’t help but wonder to herself why Botan seemed so different, is it because she hasn’t been around Watame? Subaru was the first to get ready and immediately grabbed her things, “I’ll take the left wing and courtyard!” she said before running off.

“Wait a moment, didn’t he say together, why are you leaving me with— ah fuck it . . .” She looked over at Botan who was ready and seemingly a bit eager to get to work. They both started in the wing they were currently on and moved around the perimeter, both not speaking a word to each other, just picking up whatever garbage and nicknacks the students couldn’t bother to throw in the trash.

Finally she decided to speak up, “Hey, Coco . . . I’m sorry for stepping on your toes so harshly this morning. I didn’t think you would take it so personally, but . . .” She looked over at Coco for a moment.

Coco was surprised at the suddenness of Botan’s confession, it seemed so out of place. “Where did that come from? You didn’t seem to care too much before now?”

She rested her weight against the mop and gave a light sigh, “I know. I understand that if I have any chance with Watame, I’m going to have to at least be tolerable in your eyes,” she admitted.

Did Watame put her up to this? She wouldn’t be the type to take this girl’s obvious love for her and manipulate her, so immediately that thought was dismissed. Coco pinched the bridge of her nose and gave a small smile, though she disliked Botan, to an extent she admired her for what she had just done, apologizing on her own accord even if it was for the selfish motive of her love.

“Is that so? Watame won’t be easy to get, pussy-cat, so I forgive you, I think it’ll be fun to see you try,” Coco eyed Botan and gave a smirk, “and maybe if Matsuri and the others forgive you, you can join our ragtag group and get closer to Watame? Maybe as a vocalist?”

She blushed slightly, “I-I’m sorry, I don’t sing . . . but if there’s something else I can do, I’ll gladly . . .” she twirled a portion of her bangs with her finger and made slight eye contact with Coco, “Join.”

“Really? You seem like the kind that would have a nice powerful set of chords,” Coco remarked.

“Tsk, can you just answer the question already? Is there any other role the club needs filled?” she snapped.

“My bad . . . how would being the club manager sound? I heard from some of the other students that you can answer complicated math problems on a whim,” Coco offered.

“F-Fine, I’ll be stopping by once we’re done here or tomorrow, whichever is more convenient,” she answered back rapidly.

“Great, I’m sure you’ll ma—”

“Shut up and let's get this over with,” she said as she began mopping the floor a bit more carelessly and hastily than before. 

Coco sighed and just went back to her duty, the rest of the evening going fairly smooth, however by the time they were done the music club had already left and it was getting dark. Botan didn’t even give Coco time to say goodbye before rushing out the door and disappearing down the road leaving Coco awkwardly holding her hand up. She gave a sigh, why did so much shit have to happen to her like this. She tucked her hands in her pockets and began walking around to the back of the campus.

Matsuri had left as soon as the bell rang, she bolted towards the clubroom and made it way before Fubuki or Watame. She threw the door to the storage room open and pulled out the package that had arrived at her doorstep that morning, she managed to get it to the club room without Coco or anyone else knowing which honestly surprised Matsuri as she, knowing her luck, was sure she would have ran into someone who would ask about it.

She unboxed it and quickly set the stand up, nearly knocking herself out in the process as the legs wouldn’t click into place and caused the stand to collapse while she was under it. Eventually she hoisted the keyboard up and placed it on the black steel stand, she plugged it in and made sure it worked. Her heart was beating a mile a minute as she waited and anticipated the two other club members that would be coming today. She skipped in place from the anticipation slowly boiling over. 

The door clicked and slid open, Matsuri blindly yelling “Surprise, Fubuki!” before she even identified who was actually standing in the doorway. Instead of the adorable girl she was expecting it was Watame instead, and after showing such excitement to the wrong person she crossed her arms and looked away, a red tinge spreading on her face. She gave a small giggle and innocent smile before walking in, shutting the door behind her.

“N-Nevermind . . . I expected Fubuki to be with you. Is she still coming?” 

“Of course! I just came here early to make sure everything was ready and maybe help a bit with the whole presentation aspect of the surprise, to make it a bit more flashy than yelling surprise,” she explained.

“I mean, sure if you’d like! I don’t think we can really hide the thing though . . .” She turned towards the bulky keyboard in front of her and put her hand to her chin.

“I mean, I could cover her eyes and lead her here if you’d like, then you can present her with the surprise as I remove them,” she said.

Matsuri’s heart skipped a couple beats and her face flushed red as she heard a faint sniffle, which she assumed Watame didn’t pick up on because she had no reaction. Matsuri froze for a second which finally caused Watame to focus on something other than her suggestions, and that's when she seemed to notice it as well. Matsuri leaned to peer around Watame, who turned around to see the source. 

Standing there was Fubuki, her emerald eyes sparkling from the tears she was struggling to keep in, she sniffled again and her face just as red as Matsuri’s. “Y-You guys . . . you guys actually did this for me?” she muttered, her voice shaking from the emotions she was feeling.

Matsuri tried to utter a response but ended up stumbling over her words, playing with her hair and looking down as she could barely contain herself, she was so adorable! She shut her mouth as Watame spoke up, “Yeah! We were so excited to have another person want to be part of the club, plus we made a promise so we couldn’t just not follow through.”

“W-Well . . . I’m so sorry, I should’ve trusted you guys because —” she trailed off as she continued, looking down as if ashamed.

“What was that?” Watame asked.

“I . . . bought one already,” she murmured.

For a moment Matsuri felt betrayed, she approached the girl and grabbed her shoulders, “Eeehhh?! B-But we spent so much time getting this for you! Try it out at least, try it!” Matsuri whined as she lightly swayed her.

She covered her mouth and let out a sharp exhale from her nose, “A-Alright, just please calm down.”

Matsuri’s face brightened up and she hastily ran over and turned it on; Fubuki cautiously followed, her face still a bright pink. The white-haired girl planted herself next to Matsuri and looked over the full 88 keyed instrument in front of her, a bit intimidated by how different it looked actually standing behind it compared to where she was before. Matsuri stared with stars in her eyes as she anticipated the girl to play something, and Fubuki gave a small sigh and closed her eyes before placing her fingers delicately on the keys.

She began to play, starting a bit soft and quiet but gradually played louder and with more confidence until it looked like she was in her own world, just her and the keyboard, it quickly became apparent to Matsuri how good she actually was, playing a fairly complex reimagination of  _ Lost my Pieces _ . Matsuri was left with her mouth slightly agape, it was so beautiful she felt like she wanted to cry, but as Fubuki looked at the two expectantly they both clapped, “That was amazing! Let's get our instruments out too and just jam out!” Matsuri was already half-way across the room while she finished the sentence and her hand already dug in her gig-bag.

Watame gave a warm smile to Fubuki before turning her attention to Matsuri after a loud thump echoed throughout the room. “Hey! Be careful!” she hollered as she stormed over to the brunette who had the most guilty puppy dog eyes.

“I’m sorry, sometimes I get so excited and forget how frail this thing is! It hasn’t broken yet!” She hugged her acoustic like it was a baby.

“Why did you decide to bring that one today?” Watame asked as they walked towards where Fubuki stood, who was actually looking quite excited despite her obvious fluster.

“I like it a lot better honestly, and I have an idea for the school festival that involves this beauties tone!” 

“Oh right, that's coming up soon . . .” 

Matsuri and Watame sat in a semicircle around Fubuki and they began to play and share ideas. The evening went on, a light draft blew through the open window and caused the light curtains to roll elegantly and invited more orange rays into the clubroom. Soon enough, just before the sun fell below the crest of the hill, one of Matsuri’s strings snapped which extracted a high pitched scream from her lungs. Watame addressed it with immediate concern and Fubuki just silently snickered to herself which put a smile on Matsuri’s face.

“Thank you, Watame, but I’m fine, really. Just surprised me a little bit.” Matsuri placed her guitar down and began to take the remainder of the string off the guitar.

“What string was it?” 

Matsuri hadn’t really thought about it, but as she took a look she immediately giggled, “H-Hey, maybe I should’ve been teaching Fubuki some guitar, I would’ve . . .” She held the string up, “Snapped the G-string!” 

Fubuki’s blush returned, though not nearly as evident resulting from the orange rays of the setting sun. Watame just gave the longest sigh and looked at Matsuri completely void of emotion. She, defeated, gave an awkward smile and slowly lowered her arm before putting the string in a bag she had specifically for these situations. She got up and put her guitar away before standing still for a moment as she collected her thoughts.

“Fubuki, Watame . . . today was super fun. I’m— nevermind, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” She gave a wave and hastily left. She didn’t like this odd yet intriguing feeling she felt around Fubuki, it brought back painful thoughts, thoughts of Sara, the feeling is exactly the same. No matter how much she didn’t want to, the thoughts invaded her head once again, bombarding and overpowering her mind.

_ Matsuri had a hard time processing what she was seeing at first, the room was dark aside from the medical ring lights that shined on the bed below. The heart monitor rhythmically beeping and a body laid wrapped in bandages and casts hooked up to it. Matsuri felt like she wanted to vomit, the fear churning her stomach, beating it like scrambled eggs, getting worse with every step closer to the bed. _

_ As she finally reached the side of the bed and looked over at her crush, her love, she was horrified to see she was nearly unrecognizable; deep gashes across her face, road burns, her eyes staring up at the roof not even seeming to acknowledge Matsuri’s presence.  _

_ Matsuri looked up to see the blank off-white roof above, “Hey, what’s up there that’s so interesting you wouldn’t pay any mind to me?” Matsuri joked. _

_ The heart monitor beeped a bit faster and she turned her head to face Matsuri, still staring straight ahead seemingly aimless. “M-Matsuri? Heh, well it’s actually quite boring only seeing black, y’know? Being blind sucks ass,” she responded in a frail voice. _

_ At first Matsuri thought she was making a sick joke back, but realized that her pupils were completely dilated and the muscles in her eyes unmoving. _

_ “Y-You’re blind? Like completely?” Matsuri’s voice was a wobbling wreck, barely able to produce legible words as her heart sank lower, tears beginning to flow as even seeing her in a state as bad as it seemed to break her. _

_ She barely gave a nod, it looked like even that much movement tired her. “I . . . I’m also paralyzed from the neck down . . .” she added, though it seemed she said it reluctantly, and Matsuri knew immediately why, she wouldn’t have wanted to place anymore worry into Matsuri’s mind, but it’s not like it really mattered, Matsuri couldn’t have gotten more scared than she currently was no matter what she said, the brunette already thought Sara was going to die despite her trying to hold onto hope. _

_ As Matsuri heard this she sat down in a chair right next to the bed and placed her hands in her head. This is my fault, this is my fault, I’m sorry . . . she began to quietly sob as these thoughts played in her head on repeat. _

_ Matsuri set up the chairs right next to each other to make a surface to lay on once she was done crying her ducts dry and took Sara’s limp hand, holding it while she drifted off to sleep; if only she had kept her mouth shut, then maybe they would’ve walked home together, maybe she would’ve been in Sara’s place, or better yet they would have avoided the entire thing. She clutched the hand harder and somehow found enough void in her thoughts to drift off into a slumber, though it wasn’t even close to a deep one as every single movement, odd sound or that of doors opening and closing, it all shot her awake and her first glance wasn’t to the door but immediately to Sara. _

_ A doctor practically had to force her out of the room while they did the daily routine and check-up, once he left she was free to enter again, and without hesitation she did, like second nature going back to holding her hand and occasionally talking to her when she was awake. She only left the room when she went to get food or talk to her parents, not a second was wasted getting back to her when Matsuri was done. _

_ She didn’t know whether it was light or dark out, she hadn’t looked out a window in three days and only determined the time and day by the wall clock and her phone. Her friends came to visit with gifts in their hands; the entire time they were there chatting amongst each other and with Sara, Matsuri had not uttered a single syllable. It was like she wasn’t even there. _

_ The days continued on, they ceased to visit again and Matsuri’s parents were pleading for her to come home, but she was determined to stay by Sara’s side until she saw her get better . . . it was about two weeks later that she began to take notice of the heavy feeling the doctors had once they finished the check-ups, two weeks before she caught on to the fact that Sara was spending more and more time unconscious; two weeks before she realized Sara wasn’t going to get better . . . _

_ Monday, July 3rd, Sara’s heart monitor was droning at an alarmingly slow pace, but she finally became conscious for a little bit. “M-Matsuri, you’re still here?” she breathed, her voice so weak it barely had a tone. _

_ “I am, I always have been!” Matsuri gave a smile, but then figured there was no point, as Sara couldn’t see it.  _

_ “W-Why? Hasn’t it gotten boring just sitting around with a lump like me?” _

_ “No, not one second has been boring, Sara. Don’t call yourself something like that, even if you can’t move, I’ll carry you. If you can’t see I’ll do whatever I can to help.” _

_ She gave a light laugh, “Matsuri . . . you really meant what you said in the cart that night, didn’t you, on the ferris wheel?” _

_ Matsuri sniffled, “I-I . . .” _

_ “Matsuri, the doctors have told me already. I’m not gonna make it, they gave me two weeks at most, more than likely sooner. Did you mean what you said on the ferris wheel or not?” _

_ That only confirmed Matsuri’s growing theory, the one she rejected so fiercely: Sara was slipping away. Matsuri felt tingling on her cheeks and she realized there was no point in hiding it anymore, she probably knew anyways. _

_ “I-I did, I love you Sara. I couldn’t help it, I didn’t want to, I was scared, I should’ve just followed through and you wouldn’t ha—” _

_ “Shut up . . . this wasn’t your fault. That’s always been the most frustrating thing about you; you always blame yourself for everything. This was my fault and the dumbass’s who hit me, that's all there is to it, nothing to do with you. I should’ve just answered you truthfully and now cowered away into safety, I should’ve told you how I really felt instead of thinking you were playing a joke on me . . . Matsuri, I should’ve said I love you in that cart and kissed you there, but I didn’t . . . I’m sorry.” _

_ Matsuri clutched her hand harder and leaned over her body, sobbing as she pressed her head against Sara’s chest, “Sara . . .” she repeated. _

_ “Matsuri, I want you to do something. Stop being afraid of your feelings, let loose and be yourself, fuck the world.” _

_ The brunette nodded as she listened, though as she thought more about how she was talking she began to get a little worried; she read up somewhere that people have a funny way of knowing when they’re going to die so they begin to give their last words. Matsuri sat up and looked over at Sara, the monitor gradually dipping in speed. “Please, Sara,” she barely uttered out. “Please don’t go.” _

_ “Matsuri, take that step forward,” she breathed before the monitor projected a droning beep and went blank. _

_ Matsuri wept as she laid there, she felt a piece of her heart vaporize and she screamed to herself, the only onlookers to her breakdown were her thoughts yelling and cheering in the front row of her performance. Sara was gone. _

Don’t think about her, it’s going to happen again, it’s going to happen again. Don’t think about those emerald eyes, the white hair, the cute personality, please, she didn’t want to go through that again. She felt herself impact something as she speed walked towards the exit of the school grounds.

She stumbled backwards and shook her head, instantaneously coming back to reality.

“Who the fu— Matsuri?!” Coco yelled. “What are you in such a rush for?!”

“C-Coco?! U-Um, well, I had just remembered I had something to do, so I had to go,” she explained.

“Really, why are you all teary eyed then? Did you get all embarrassed around Fubuki?” she joked.

Matsuri gave a forced laugh as well to play along with it, “Y-Yeah, she’s surprisingly better at putting people in embarrassing situations than I am!”

Coco’s gaze was intense and piercing, so chilling it caused a shiver to run down her spine. There was no way she didn’t know it was a lie, but for some reason Coco brushed it off and nodded.

“Sure, whatever. Say, is Watame still in the clubroom?” Coco asked.

“Of course! At least she should be. Also, how was your time with B-B-B-Botan?!” she stammered as she finally came into view behind Coco.

“Oh right, I almost forgot, she has something to say to you, right?” she asked, the last word coming out through gritted teeth as she stared back at the tall girl behind her.

“Tsk, whatever. I didn’t need you here to spectate it,” she growled as she stepped in front of her and towered over Matsuri.

“About yesterday; I’m sorry, I may have been a bit unreasonable. Will you please at least allow me to be in the clubroom while you guys are around?”

“Well this is a bit of a surprise . . . sure?” she hesitantly answered, “I accept your apology, Botan. Whad'ya say, put ‘er there!” Matsuri gave a smile as she held out her hand.

Botan was a bit thrown off at how quickly the brunette had accepted her apology with seemingly no issues. She reluctantly took her hand and shook it before hastily retracted it, “W-What the hell?!” She looked at her hand intently before giving it a smell, her face contorting as a reaction and she immediately propelled it away. “What is this shit?!”

Matsuri and Coco gave the largest laughs and Matsuri began to slip off a clear glove Coco had snuck her, and on it was a perfume imbued with a rotten stench that would take hours to clean off. She immediately grabbed for the glove but Matsuri slid behind her and threatened to slap her with it if she tried to grab it again.

Botan sighed and decided to ignore it, beginning to climb the flights of stairs.

“Hey, nothing personal! It’s just how we do things around here, so you better get used to it!” Matsuri called up before throwing the glove in the trash.

“That was perfect! You’ll be able to smell her from across the room!” Coco yelped.

“Yeah!” Matsuri agreed with a loud laugh. Once the two calmed down she looked out a nearby window which had a perfect view of the town, which was shrouded now in the darkness of night, the street lamps and storefront lights reflecting off the river and twinkling vividly like the increasing amount of visible stars above.

Matsuri took a moment to admire the beauty of it, at first she hated the place and just wanted to be back in the city, but gradually she began to appreciate it more and more. “Say, Coco . . . do you want to go somewhere tonight? Do you know any secret places that are good for unwinding and relaxing?”

Her eyes twinkled a little, “I know every amazing unmarked spot! There's the run down docks just over the hill on the coast, a place I like to call ‘the clearing’, a beautiful crystalline cave that hasn’t been localized yet, and so much more!”

They continued to walk down the hall, Matsuri still emotionally raw from her unrelenting thoughts from earlier, but she began to feel a bit more at ease. “How about ‘the clearing’? I feel like stargazing would be beautiful tonight!”

“Of course! Follow the lead!” She marched in front and led her outside the campus and into the forest that surrounded much of the town.

It seemed like hours despite it being only a couple of minutes, but soon enough there was a break in the trees, a large roughly circular space with a single tall tree in the middle surrounded by medium length grass. The moon’s rays reflected off the branches of the tree in a way that the word beautiful couldn’t even begin to describe. A light breeze caused the blades of grass to look like they were dancing under the blue rays, like a whole city of fairies enchanted the clearing with pure natural beauty. 

With no light pollution each star shone significantly brighter, Matsuri looked up in amazement as she walked further into the clearing and towards the tree, the largest smile on her face as she had never seen something like this in the city.

“This is . . . amazing.” She gave a giggle and planted herself at the root of the tree, leaning against it as she sat and looked up. “How did you find this place?”

“I was playing in the woods with Subaru late one night and we stumbled across this other girl who said she was ‘exploring her inherited kingdom’, we ended up playing fantasy with her long into the night and eventually she showed us her ‘castle’, which was this tree.” Coco placed her hand on it and gave a small smile, “She said her name was princess Himemori, we had lots of fun that night, but sadly we never saw her again. I come here often and part of me wishes I’d see her again, but I’ve been wondering if she’s just part of my imagination, if both me and Subaru made her up during our game . . .”

Matsuri looked up and nodded. The two stayed relatively silent and just enjoyed each other's company, admiring nature’s beauty, tuning out the world. Matsuri’s phone buzzed and rang but she didn’t answer. Her parents were probably livid, but the moment was so serene, it felt like she was in her own little bubble, not even any thoughts of Sara.

“Coco . . . thank you so much. I know you probably forced her to apologize and that it wasn’t sincere, but it was nice, so thank you.”

“Y’know, Botan was actually pretty different when I was alone with her, she was a lot more calm.”

“Really? Well that’s a surprise. Can I ask you a question?”

“What is it?”

“Do you ever have something that haunts your thoughts? Something that no matter what, no matter how much you try, you can’t escape them?” Matsuri remembered earlier that day, when Coco explained the incident about Botan that morning, Subaru cut herself off from talking further about something, so she tried to subtly ask about it.

There was no answer, only the crunching of leaves as Coco stood up. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket and began walking off.

Matsuri stood up. “Wait, I didn’t mean to—” that was the answer to her question. Of course she did, and Botan somehow pushed the button unintentionally. Matsuri sighed and felt her nose begin to run as a cold draft once again rippled across the field, her face stinging as if a thousand needles were piercing it.

A sparkly voice piped up from behind her, “So that’s her now? She’s changed quite a bit from what I remember, then again it has been a very long time.”   
Matsuri jumped for a second and turned around to see a girl just barely shorter than her with long pink hair and exotic heterochromatic eyes. She looked delicate and elegant, “I’m sure you can guess, I’m princess Himemori, or just call me Luna, no need for formalities,” she gave a small giggle.

“I’m Natsuiro Matsuri, but I suppose you can just call me Matsuri!” She gave a smile back and shivered slightly as she rubbed her hands together. Luna, who was approaching the tree, had a pink scarf wrapped around her neck, a thick sweater with the word “PRINCESS” written across it and skinny jeans with thick, warm black and white socks that went up to her knees.

“Nice to meet you. It seems you asked the wrong question,” she said.

Matsuri just sighed and nodded, her back against the tree as she felt Luna’s body press right against hers, causing her to blush.

“You seem cold, you should really be wearing warmer clothes if you’re going to be out and about this late,” she said as she wrapped her warm gloved hands around Matsuri’s, which certainly warmed more than her hands up as she was now blushing hard. Luna just stared as if unaware of anything.

“Does that feel better?”

Matsuri just gave a nervous giggle and a nod, “I-It does . . .” 

“That’s good. It’s getting fairly late, don’t you have family that are worrying about you?”

Matsuri nodded and pulled her hand away, “I-I guess you’re right. Is there any chance I’ll be seeing you again, Luna?”

“I’ll always be here,” she answered before waving her off. Matsuri was kind of weirded out but returned the wave as she made her way back to town. By the time she got home the lights were all off, it seemed as if her parents were asleep. She slowly crept towards her bedroom but was stopped.

“Matsuri . . . get over here. Now,” her father demanded. Matsuri deflated and prepared for the incoming barrage that would be her fathers lecture and punishment. Matsuri was so tired she zoned out through half of it, and when it was finally over she just face planted on the floor in front of her.

What an exhausting day, and even more exhausting times were ahead of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This took way too long to write and publish and I have no excuse except for the fact that I was procrastinating. I am so sorry, but consider this a Thanksgiving gift, a showing of thanks to all of you that put up with my stupid ass shit and still read it lmao.
> 
> Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I hope that the next chapter won’t be nearly as delayed as this one. I am sorry for the length as well, I wanted to cram more into it but I felt like this was a good place to stop and felt like I needed to update, so I just cut it short. I keep writing myself into corners when trying to get Fubuki and Matsuri more scenes together, I really am trying. Anyways, enough rambling. Thanks.


	7. I'm not discontinuing this story, just restarting it based around a far more interesting premise.

Hey, guys. It's been a while, or to the people who are just finding this story now, hello! I've grown bored with how the story was going, I sat down and tried my best to force myself to write, but I just couldn't. I stared at my screen and tried my best to come up with something interesting but for the life of me I couldn't, especially given the much better ideas that were flowing from my head that weren't compatible for how the story was going previously. 

I will be rebooting this story as a colorblind soulmate AU! I am also working on a fantasy AU following Kiryu Coco as the main character. More on this below. Anyways, about the transition. I will be completely removing this version, so if you have it bookmarked or something, then yeah, just come back to my account every so often, don't have any definitive dates for the release lol. Though it will come out earlier on my Wattpad account because . . . idk honestly but yeah.

Preview:

Perched upon the edge of the roof she watched as the candles in the houses diminished, her eyes laser-focused on one house in particular. Lightning crashed around her, the flash catching the rusty steel of the dragon-head pin anchoring her black coverings around her face and body together. Rain ran down the tile roof, but crimson dripped from the point of her blade which she clutched in her hand firmly. Little did those poor bastards know that the Kiryu name was still alive and well, as well as more vengeful.


End file.
